First Chapters - An assortment of beginnings
by CycoMW
Summary: Beginnings of potential new stories. One of these will likely be my next big story. The first chapter starts with summaries of the different stories within. Stories: 1. Harry and Hagrid, 2. Moony's Memories, 3. Magic Thief, 4. & 5. The Forgotten Future, 6. The Six Million Dollar Wizard, 7. Aspirant Harry Potter, 8. griffon@privettower, 9. Changes in the Chamber and 10. Ghostly Help
1. Harry and Hagrid

_**Notes:** Tis a pity I can't insert a chapter and have all the review per chapter scoot along. So going to have to do with sticking my story summaries before Harry and Hagrid._

_This is the place where I post my fleshed out my plot bunnies to hopefully later choose which one I will expand into a proper story. I apologise for the likely multitude of grammatical and syntactical mistakes. These at best get only a half hearted reread and no third party checking at all. If one of these makes it to my working list it'll likely get a rewrite from sentence one. _

The stories so far (a list that will be updated).

1. **Harry and Hagrid** - Where Hagrid raises Harry. The Harry that attends Hogwarts is friends with a multitude of 'dark' races and has received a number of gifts from them. This story is told from the POV of many many people but probably not including Harry at all. Different and moderately powerful Harry with gift, surprises and allies.

2. **Moonie's Memories** - Where Moonie discovered Dumbledore has being rather generous with the use of Obliviates and Compulsion charms. Weasley, Dumbledore bashing. Harry, Hermione and Neville going up against the establishment with the help of many muggleborns and halfbloods. Told in the form of journal entries and letters. First five chapters of this written.

3. **Magic Thief** - Justin Finch-Fletchley is no ordinary muggleborn wizard. He gained his magic through an accident involving another young wizard. Based of Umbridge's idea of stealing magic and will involve her and her family. Justin will become Harry;s friend, rather powerful and possibly a little dark. Harry will be a moderating influence.

4. **The Forgotten Future** - Harry manages to send back his powers but only a fragment of his memories to his younger self due to a misunderstanding in how actions effect the future. Revenge fic on Dursley's, Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort and the Ministry. Powerful & Grey Harry.

5. **The Forgotten Future v2** - Same as the previous story but told 1st person.

6. **The Six Million Dollar Wizard** - A muggle operation to save Harry's spine gives Harry superhuman speed, strength and senses. Starts after the Tri-Wizard ceremony and most characters will be as canon as possible but Harry will become much more like Sirius. Independent, irreverent, playful and not willing to put up with Dumbledore's and the Ministry's games.

7. **Aspirant Harry Potter** - Harry Potter after the death of his godfather chances upon the book 'Space Marine'. He uses it as a guide to use runes to grant himself some power. Eventually adds in power armor equivalent, other recruits and takes the fight to Voldemort and his Dark Creatures.

8. **griffon AT privettower** - Harry Potter set in a cyberpunk world. Netrunning, Cybernetics, genetic engineering and space travel. The wizard world still as dated as the books. No longer keen on my original plot ideas (not that they are touched on in this taster) However I still like the idea for the setting.

9. **Changes in the Chamber** - Harry chats with the Sorting hat after defeating the memory of Tom Riddle and the Basilisk and is put on the path of looking out for himself and his friends. Harry and Ginny train so they won't be so helpless next time. Hermione and Neville soon follow in their footsteps. Allies include Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor. Opponents include Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort and the Ministry. Expect sword fighting and more magical weapons and armor.

10. **Ghostly Help** - Harry didn't survive his visit to the Hut-on-the-Rock but his story didn't end there. His ghost returns to help Hermione, Neville and Hagrid.

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_******Harry and Hagrid**_

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_**Author Notes**__: A little bit of an exercise if alternative storytelling for me. To be told in snippets from other people pov. Hagrid is not a fan of the muggle world and it doesn't take much to convince him that the son of two of the loveliest people he knew doesn't deserve to be with the worst kind of muggles. Of course being raised by Hagrid as he travels the continent is likely to have a profound effect on a small boy. Posting everything written so far._

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** Chapter 1**

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Hagrid parked the bike behind the Three Broomsticks loudly blew his nose and entered the pub. It was noisy, filled with excited people cheering each other. Hagrid walked to the bar paying no attention to the people he scattered on the way.

Rosmerta handed him a large mug as she took in his red eyes, "What's wrong Hagrid? You-know-who is dead, the dark times are finally over."

Hagrid sobbed, "but Lily an' James are dead and poor little Harry all alone"

Rosmerta's eyebrows rose, "What happened?"

Hagrid shook his head as he gulped down half his mulled mead.

Rosmerta poured him another four pint mug full. "Something to do with why Professor McGonagall's over there doing the same as you?" She indicated the one quiet table in the corner.

Hagrid glanced over and nodded. He downed the rest of his first drink grabbed the second and pushed through the crowd to the far table. He dropped heavily to the bench which creaked loudly but held. Rosmerta was good with her strengthening charms.

McGonagall poured herself another measure of single malt and blinked up at Hagrid, "Worst sort of muggles they are. What is he thinking?"

Hagrid put down his mug, "Who yeh talkin' 'bout? Who thinkin'?"

McGonagall paused, Dumbledore didn't approve of her opinion but... she knocked back the shot, "Those muggles we left young Harry with. Couldn't find people less like us. They won't treat him right. Dumbledore seems to think he'll be safe there and leaving him with just a letter, irresponsible!"

Hagrid rubbed at one eye with his massive fist before drowning his second mug in one massive gulp before standing up, "Dat won' do. He needs lookin' afta an' if they won' then... I'll tell Dumbledore.."

McGonagall watched through teary eyes as Hagrid strode out of the pub sending three patrons to the floor. She poured another shot and raised it a quiet toast, "You tell him Hagrid, you tell the great Albus and I hope he listens to you at least."

Outside there was a massive roar as the motorcycle burst back into life and McGonagall poured herself another as the sound faded into the night.

A few hours later, a long way south and for the second time that night Privet drive was visited by the massive motorcycle. Windows shook and doors rattled as Hagrid pulled up outside number four and leaving it bike idling gathered up the precious bundle. "Hello Harry, Lily an' James wouldn' wanted yeh living with these muggles. If Dumbledore too busy ta look after ya I'll just have to do it."

As the motorcycle left a couple inside a house stirred uneasily in their sleep not knowing how close they had just come to having their perfectly normal existence disturbed.

_-H&H-_

Albus Dumbledore signed the notification of staffing changes with a flourish. He smiled satisfied that finally Hagrid was returning to Hogwarts. It had been ten long years with the big friendly man and Albus had missed his antics. He had been surprised that Hagrid had taken the deaths of James and Lily so badly but obviously knowing that their son would be starting school here come September had brought Hagrid back.

After posting the offer of employment to Hagrid and the new staff list to the ministry he folded up the letter from the big man. He placed it with the small pile of letters that he had received from him since he had gone traveling. Albus chuckled as he thought about all the strange places and creatures Hagrid talked about in those letters. He must have had fun but hopefully his wanderlust was at an end. Hagrid did make quite a good groundsman. Much better than the series of replacements that they had been making do with.

"Come in Minerva"

Minerva McGonagall entered and sat stiffly in a chair she transfigured to suit.

"Albus."

"Have all the acceptance letters come back?"

Minerva nodded, "Indeed. Including one from Mr. Potter."

Albus's eyes twinkled, "Excellent. Now I expect that his uncle and aunt have only provided the most basic knowledge of our world so he'll need a friendly introduction. I suggest we send Hagrid as he's elected to rejoin us for next year."

Minerva raised her eyebrows, "Indeed?" she paused to consider her next words, "There is no denying his heart is in the right place I think it would be more appropriate off myself of Filius to help Mr Potter with his purchases and preparations as we do with the muggle-borns. Hagrid is not the most..."

Albus smiled a little condescendingly, "I understand your concern but you needn't worry. I have the utmost faith in Hagrid. I'll leave it with you to arrange it with them."

Minerva nodded stiffly and then left. She waited till she was well past the gargoyle before she allowed just the faintest hint of a smile grace her stern features.

_-H&H-_

Neville blinked and looked down at his empty hands. He gulped and glanced up at the towering lady beside him. She was currently directing her dissproving stare down the platform at a small group of older boys.

Neville tried up be discrete as he started searching first his bag then the nearby platform for Trevor. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and dragged him upright twisting him around so he was staring up at cool questioning eyes.

He gulped again knowing there was no point lying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

His grandmother sighed, "Oh Neville."

A small voice behind him spoke, "he's a Schneider. They like to explore but give them a scratch here."

Neville turned around and found a tangle of black hair in front of him. It's was a short boy holding Trevor. He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly found his wrist grabbed in a shockingly firm grip and tugged closed to Trevor.

"Under this ridge. " The boy directed Neville's hand till he found it scratching Trevor. "Scratch here a few times and he'll settle down for the day. Calms them and let's them know you'll be looking out for him. He's a nice toad. What's his name?"

Neville was a little confused but he had been taught to be polite so he answered immediately anyhow, "Trevor."

The boy smiled and nodded and addressed the toad, "Nice to meet you Trevor. I'm going to give you back to your friend now." After returning Trevor he looked up at Neville and gave massive smile, "Bye now!"

Neville stared after the boy as he literally skipped off.

His Gran made a little noise of disapproval, a noise that Neville was very familiar with but that time she wasn't looking at him, "Terrible hair, looks like its never been brushed or cut properly. Form his height I'd say he's seven or eight. Be careful if you see him again Neville. From those scars I'd say he's either gets into a lot of fights or is careless and you certainly don't need any assistance on that front."

Neville looked up and nodded. He was a bit disappointed but not surprised. His Gran always made sure he didn't get too close to anything dangerous. '...or interesting' he whispered deep in his mind.

As his gran quickly checked over his bag he gave Trevor another scratch under that ridge and was rewarded by Trevor snuggling into his hands. He glanced down the platform to see the small boy holding a massive spider up to his face and seemingly tickling it under its chin to gasps and giggles from those nearby.

"Okay Neville, on to the train with you and ill expect an owl from you tomorrow, let me know if you have forgotten anything at home. Make sure you use clean you teeth and wash your face." His grandmother lifted his trunk and slid it onto the train. "Just drag it to a compartment and ask someone bigger than you to lift it up."

As he waved to his Gran Neville spotted the small boy holding an owl and seemingly scolding a much older boy who was standing next to an open owl cage. The older boy's head was bowed as if he embarrassed and he just nodded as the owl took off and flew away.

Neville was surprised when the boy then waved to the older boy, grabbed a trunk nearly as big as himself and hopped on the train. Surely he was too young he though as he awkwardly held Trevor in one hand and dragged his heavy trunk along the train.

_-H&H-_

Marcus strode down the corridor of the train roughly pushing younger students out of the way. He sneered at a fellow Slytherin Prefect as he slid into a compartment holding his friends.

He pulled out a wooden box before heaving his trunk up to the luggage rack.

"What you got there Flint?"

Marcus grinned, "you'll like this. Vicious and deadly poisonous." He opened the lid to reveal a hissing orange and blue striped snake.

His friends carefully leant forward to peer at the snake. "How you going to get that in?"

Marcus grinned, "I'm a prefect. I'm on duty to help search the luggage it won't be a problem."

He paused noticing his friends go pale. Looking down he discovered the snake was no longer in the box. He froze and slowly looked up to see that his friends had their eyes fixed on a spot beside and slightly behind him. He turned carefully to find a small face level with his own.

"She's not happy. You don't feed her enough and she prefers baby mice. Give her some fire rocks, a small pond of gillywater, stop shaking her box and she'll let you pick her up."

Marcus gaze dropped to see the most deadly snake and mean snake he could find curled around the tiny boys wrist rubbing it's head up against the boys thumb. He couldn't think of anything to say.

His eyes travelled up to the bright green eyes of the boy. He was so short that their eyes were level whilst Marcus was sitting on the low bench. The boys black hair was a disaster of tangles and knots. It had the appearance that it had been hacked so that it didn't fall below the boys shoulders.

The boy smiled and held out the snake, Marcus tried to scoot backwards but found himself already against the back of the seat. He held up the box and the little boy gently placed the snake down and giving a small wave walked out of the compartment.

Marcus shared astonished glances with his friends and then very carefully closed the box and latched it shut.

_-H&H-_

Ron found his brothers sitting with a bunch of their friends. "Fred, George. Do you know there Harry Potter is? I heard that he'd been seen."

One of the twins, Ron couldn't tell them apart either, grinned. "Oh I know where he is but I wouldn't suggest you go there little Ronnikins wouldn't you agree brother of mine?"

The other twin matched grins, "definitely not. Why little Ron would be blown away like a leaf in a tornado."

Lee, one of the twins friends asked. "But Harry's smaller than Ron."

Fred shrugged with a smile, "Yep, no idea how he's doing it but he's just sitting up there calm as can be with the wind rushing past."

"Was amazing. Me and Fred could barely hang on and he's up there chatting away about how he likes the fresh air."

Ron was watching them feeling rather confused, "Fresh air? Up where?"

George smile widened, "He's sitting on the roof."

Ron looked out the window at the trees madly rushing past the speeding train, "No way. You just trying to prank me. Well it's not happening. If you won't tell me I'll just keep looking."

The twins and their friends were laughing as Ron stomped out of the compartment.

He tried again many times before the end of the trip but though a number of people had met him no one could tell him where he was. The only good thing as far as Ron was concerned was that the git, Draco Malfoy hadn't been able to find him either.

Leaving the train Ron heard a bellowing voice calling out "First years! First years over here!"

Ron found himself walking towards a giant of a man. Twice as tall as himself and Ron prided himself on being tall for his age.

The man was wearing a massive long furred trenchcoat over what looked like patched animal skin pants and jerkin. He had a massive beard and thick black hair but was smiling broadly.

"Hi Hagrid" A small voice came from above Ron and he looked up to see a small messy black haired boy standing on the roof of the train waving merrily at the giant.

As the giant plucked the boy off the train and placed him on the ground he spoke, "Harry! How was the train ride?"

"Good. Had a real nice view from up top made a bunch of new friends too."

Ron's face drooped at that news. He had hoped to be Harry's first friend at school. Still, he thought to himself, I can become friends with him on the boat ride to the castle his mum had told him about.

_-H&H-_

Professor McGonagall straightened her robes and looked out the window overlooking the lake. The window small and not very high up but her eyes easily spotted the small lanterns as they came closer.

Her keen ears picked up what sounded like screaming and cheering. The screaming wasn't all that unusual. Occasionally the giant squid would come up to say hi and some of the more nervous of the first years would get rather a shock. McGonagall was less sure about the cheering.

She concentrated and the small boats became a lot clearer against the dark water of the lake. She knew that if someone was nearby they sight of her eyes right now would startle them. Few people had as much control of their animagus as she did, but then again there weren't that many who could claim multiple masteries in transfiguration.

She nodded to herself as she saw the giant squid swimming alongside the boats. That seemed to account for the screaming but the cheering she still wasn't sure about. Then she saw the squid flick something high into the air. When she realised what it was she gasped. It was a child. Frozen for a moment she had barely considered bursting into a run when she made out the sound of clapping. The child had flipped through the air twice and then made a perfect dive into the lake. With both hands over her mouth she watched as the boy reemerged standing on one of the giant squid's tentacles.

She wondered if she was seeing things as it seemed as if the squid had brought the child close to it's head to listen to what was being said. She continued to watch until they finally moved out of view and starting she realised she'd have to rush to get to the doors before Hagrid.

As she raced down, hoping that no one else was anywhere nearby, she couldn't get the picture of the little child flying through the air and executing a perfect dive into the lake.

After opening the door and leading the first years into the entrance hall she carefully looked over the children but not one was wet. However she did note with interest that there seemed to be rather a gathering around a very short messy haired boy. She pursed her lips as she noted that messy was an understatement. The boys hair was a disaster. She wondered if it had ever been combed or properly trimmed.

As she made her normal introduction speech and reached the part about smartening yourselves up her eyes fell on the small boy. He just smiled happily up at her with brilliant green eyes and her eyes suddenly snapped over to Hagrid who grinned at her.

She quickly finished the speech and as she walked away thought to herself. So that is Harry Potter. Hagrid's influence could partly explain how he came to be playing with the squid though someone else must have taught him to swim. Hagrid's flailing could hardly be deemed swimming. However the biggest question in her mind was why was he so short.


	2. Moony's Memories

_**Authors Note**__: This story is told in the form of the Journal of Remus Lupin. As the story progresses it will include letters sent to Remus from Harry and others. Starring: Dumbledore as the Great Manipulator. Hermione and Neville as the best friends. This one won't be a Harry / Hermione though I'm not ruling out them going out on a date or two. Posting the first of the five chapters I have written._

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**Moony's Memories - Chapter 1**

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This is the Journal of Remus Lupin. If I am reading this and don't recall writing this then I can assume that I have been Obliviated again. I have used a signature quill to write this and I used a blood quill to sign my name so casting Signare Revelio and Sanguis Confer will confirm that it is I that did indeed write this.

I have taken many precautions to safeguard my memories since I first recovered them with the help of Master Xiang but knowing that my primary adversary is a very powerful wizard I can not be assured that any will work hence my creation of this Journal as another safeguard.

I long ago was taught and assumed that the presence of the wolf in my mind safeguarded my thoughts and memories and that I was unable to learn Occlumency in any of its forms so I imagine if my recent memories have been removed I will have forgotten that I am now a capable Occlumens. My first defence is a set of memories and thoughts that will give the an average Legilimens false readings and prevent most low powered Obliviations, if this is all that's happened then the quote, 'Never moon a werewolf.' should trigger my guardian to free my memories.

If it doesn't then the Obliviate is deeper, the false memories are stronger or there are more powerful compulsions cast on me than my guardian can simply overcome. The best I can do for now is to describe my past few years and hope that I can use this journal to continue my task and then once again recover my memories.

As I write this I am living in a small caravan in Surrey, England. I have been living here for the past two months and my plan is to initiate contact with Harry Potter once I have completed updating this Journal. I have examined the wards carefully surrounding him and believe I have worked out a way to bypass them without alerting the great manipulator Albus Dumbledore. I will only include a brief summary of what I have found here since if I am incorrect then it is likely that all the wards will be changed anyhow. My notes on the specifics I have already destroyed so they can not be used by anyone with malicious intent.

If I am asking myself why do I refer to the Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin, First Class; Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcerer as the Great Manipulator then I still have a lot of explaining to do.

I will start the explanation at the point where our memories likely diverge as they have in the past. The date is some two weeks after than infamous Halloween when one of best friends betrayed James, Lily and Harry to Lord Voldemort. I had just returned from a lengthy period with the werewolf clans and had met with Dumbledore. The news of James and Lily's deaths was still very new to me as the clan I had been with lived by choice secluded from most wizards.

I remembered Dumbledore being as always being obstinate and self important, insisting on answering my questions with vapid assurances and trying to distract my by asking about how the werewolves were taking the news of Lord Voldemort's defeat. As if I had stayed any longer than it had taken me to grab my bag once I had myself had heard the details. Soon I was losing myself to my anger but Dumbledore is nothing if not persuasive and he soon calmed me down with assurances that Harry Potter was in good hands and I needn't worry about him. I asked a few more questions which led to me learning that Sirius had betrayed us all and had personally killed Peter. My anger rose again and I recall wolf fighting to take over. But then the ever calm Dumbledore reminded me to 'calm yourself' and after a few more assurances that he would take care of everything I was sent on my way.

I left his presence calmer than I had been in months. Whilst the initial calming effect of Dumbledore's words and spell faded once I had left his presence the desire to remain calm didn't. Weeks became months as I struggled to deal this new desire. I occasionally but only very briefly thought of Harry, Sirius and Peter before my mind went back to the task of calming myself. As the months passed and the wolf continued to fight for and win dominance each full moon it would leave me exhausted and wounded but also with an even stronger desire to calm myself. I soon became obsessive to the point of craziness. I kept moving, pursuing any idea no matter how ludicrous that I thought or had heard might lead to a method of calming myself.

I vaguely remember efforts to learn Occlumency, drinking binges, muggle drugs and attempts at hypnosis. My memories of those days are forever blurry and half forgotten. No technique that I've tried have ever recalled them fully even though I can now recall most of my days at Hogwarts and even before near perfectly. I am unsure if it was the alcohol, drugs, poor health, the effects of Dumbledore's memory charms or what that was the cause but that part of my life is forever lost. I am not even sure of how long I was like that as when my current memories begin I was in a buddhist temple in a Northern China with no recollection of how I got there or how long I had been there.

I slowly learnt enough Mandarin to communicate with the monks who had without question helped me regain my strength, looked after me and taught me techniques to control my anger. Eventually I asked how I had come to be there and they had told me how I had arrived half dead after trekking for many days with barely any food or water to collapse on their steps repeating the same unintelligible words, they repeated the words as best they could and after a few goes I finally worked out that I had been repeating, "calm yourself Remus" over and over again.

I can never thank those monks in that high temple for what they gave me. Not only did they teach me ways to connect to my magic in a much more natural way they taught me techniques in Occlumency that finally allowed my to be one with the wolf. I understand now where the stories of the amazing feats the greatest of the Kung fu masters were able to archive. They had connected with their animal side's to a level beyond my imagination. To them lycanthropy was the western name to the wolf spirit that had been forced out from it's domain by dark magic thousands of years ago. The curse was not having the wolf spirit but being forced upon you without time to develop control. Where all the other animagus forms emerge slowly only the wolf is thrust upon the unwilling. Master Xiang of the Wolf became my teacher during my stay. He taught all the sufferers like me contro. No longer are they bound to the tides of the moon, they control when they change, they call upon the spirit of the wolf when as a man and they never lose control and are not infectious. I had no goal beyond learning to control myself and I had no doubt that I would be happy to remain there learning and maybe one day teaching.

However as I advanced to the point where I could begin to break the dark chains that caused the wolf in me to become a crazed beast I discovered new puzzles. A favoured technique I used led set me travelling my subconscious mindscape. Unlike the mindscape I created to organise my thoughts and the one I created to imitate the mind of a wizard without Occulmency I had very little control of the shape of the subconscious mindscape and each time I visited it it was different.

I was trekking this time upon a plain of smoke and glass. Strange trees seemed to exist in my peripheral vision but when I turned my head nothing was ever there. I was once again searching for the wolf, each time hoping to calm it a bit more and finally prove I was a friend and meant it no harm. However this time I stumbled on a large puddle of sludge obscuring the glass floor. When I attempted to clean it I was struck with a sharp pain and soon was thrown back to uncomfortable awakeness. Master Xiang described it as a stains upon my psyche and bade me seek out Master Xin of the Mind. Unlike most of the other Masters Xin took few students and taught not anything related to the animal forms. In a way his art was closer to the Occulemency and Legilimancy common in the Western world. It was under his tutelage that I was able to clean the stain from my mind and discover hidden memories. Those memories led me to a new path no longer was controlled the wolf my only goal, nor was it even my primary goal. I had a new task and thankfully Master Xin was willing to teach me new tools to achieve my new goals. It was with Master Xiang's and Master Xin's blessings that I left to return to England

I now continue my meditations and exercises every day and I see slow improvement and when I am assured that Harry is safe I truly hope that I will be able to return to Master Xiang and Master Xin to complete my training.

The hidden memory that changed everything was of that meeting with Dumbledore some years previous. I still find it strange to visit the memory, or any memory of my previous life. The echoes of my anger even repressed as I kept it in those days is so unfamiliar to me now.

I was in Dumbledore's office and I was a mess. Scruffy torn and dirty clothing hang off my gaunt body as I paced to and fro in front of Dumbledore's desk. The headmaster sat in his comfortable chair hands pursed together as his eyes casually followed my movement that twinkle flickering about like a trapped firefly.

I was talking so fast and with such anger it took me a few viewings to even understand, "Stop asking me that I don't care what the clans are doing. You shouldn't have even sent me there. Why won't you tell me where Sirius, Peter and Harry are? Are they hurt? Are they okay?"

"Remus, my young friend. They are all fine. Harry is being looked after don't worry yourself about that. Please take a seat and we can discuss the others in good time. We need to talk about the werewolves." Dumbledore said calmly. He casually waved a hand and one of the chairs in the room slid forward to intercept my memory's self pacing but I didn't sit just glared down at the headmaster.

"Who cares! I need to talk to Sirius. Why wasn't the Fidelius cast at …. I can't re... it was cast! Oh Sirius how could you..." I suddenly dropped dropped into the chair and sank his face into his two rough and scratched hands. There was a long drawn out sob before his head shot up and he glared at Dumbledore, "Then it is my duty to look after Harry. I'll have the house elves lock me into one of the dungeons on the full moon. The normal wards will be good enough now that Voldemort is dead."

Dumbledore looked sad as he shook his head, "I'm sorry Remus. I don't believe Voldemort is truly dead, he will return and when he does Harry must be ready. If he grew up like James he will not be able to do his duty. I need you to trust me and return to the werewolves. Harry will be raised by his relatives."

I sprung from my chair with impresive speed. Worn out from poor living conditions, not enough food and too much travelling I still had impressive reflexes then. My fists slammed down on the headmaster's desk as I roared, "Petunia? Never! Lily and James would never have allowed it. I know I was next in line after Sirius for custody and I doubt Petunia was even listed. I will fight you on this Albus! I ..."

I wonder what i would have said or did next if Albus hadn't petrified me at that point. Would I have attacked the Great Albus Dumbledore next? Maybe, I felt angry enough and knowing what I do now he surely deserved it.

Albus slowly stood up and with a casual flick he drew his wand. Yep. You read that right. He cast Petrificus Totalus wandlessly and non-verbally. Something that he himself had told us on many occasions was impossible.

His tone was calm and a little sorrowful, "I'm sorry Remus but I can't allow that. Tom Riddle will return, ahh I see the question in your eyes. That's Voldemort's real name. Harry must be prepared and there is a prophecy that will allow us to ensure Tom's defeat. You must calm yourself Remus. It's in all our best interests if Harry is raised by Petunia, she is his closest blood relation after all. I have placed charms and strengthened Lily's protections on him so no matter what happens he will never lose himself and will remain pure of heart and no dark magic will be able to touch or find him. Calm yourself Remus."

Dumbledore had by this time walked around his desk and gently maneuvered my frozen body into a seating position once again casually displaying magical abilities beyond anything I had heard of. I have examined the memory closely I have confirmed that it was indeed Petrificus Totalus that was cast and not some more advanced charm though how what spell he used to effect it I have been unable to discover.

"It's not safe for Harry to be raised by a werewolf, that can't be allowed. What if you hurt him. You have to calm yourself Remus. Everything I do is for the best you have to understand that. He will be looked after, you don't have to concern yourself about it. You can leave here and not worry about Harry or your friends anymore. Calm yourself Remus."

Dumbledore continued on in this vein for a while longer mostly just repeating assurances that Harry would be safe. Where he started with admitting it might not be in Harry's best interests he gradually changed his story and started adding in obvious untruths often repeating the words 'Calm yourself Remus'. Why he picked these particular keywords to reinforce the fake memories he gradually worked into me I'm not sure but I am thankful that he did as they have given me this chance to finally fight back.

The hardest ward to work out was the ward that detects wands. I've never heard of such a thing so I'm guessing Dumbledore created it. It's elegant, strong and near impossible to break without setting it off. As it does nothing more than send an alarm all it's power is very focused. Thankfully I believe I can achieve my goals without ever having to take a wand into No. 4 Privet Drive so I'll just be forced to leave my wand behind.

The ward against dark magic and dark creatures I thought was going to be a challenge but it turns out my control of the wolf is good enough that as long as it's not within a day of the full moon I no longer detect as a dark creature. This was a welcome discovery and I've also used this to my advantage by creating my own wards around my caravan and garden that isolate me during those days. My control is good enough that they should be unnecessary but it's not worth the risk.

The wards versus harm, spells, apparition, port keys, detection, mail owls, tracking, listening and the localized taboo I can mostly just ignore as long as I'm careful.

That there was a ward specifically blocking my magical signature was rather upsetting. That took me a long time to work out how to bypass. I imagine I could get a Mastery in Wards for the work I did for that and probably upset a whole lot of people, get myself Obliviated and then vanished.

Tomorrow I will go introduce myself to Vernon Dursley and hopefully by the end of the week Harry Potter will be able to get some relief from the miserable life he has had to endure for the past few years.

I'm going to start with actually getting him to work in my garden whilst I carefully pry apart the charms placed on him. It will also allow him to honestly tell his guardians that I have been making him do what I am employing him to do. Once his health is good enough and he has relaxed enough I will slowly introduce him to the truths about myself. I have decided to stick with my plan of telling him up front once he's away from No. 4 Privet Drive that I was a friend of his father but that I don't want the Dursleys to find out and that I will tell him more later. I will not lie to him. When I realized my initial plan had me sounding just like Dumbledore I think I understood him more, simpler yes but those little lies just beget bigger lies. I probably have only one chance to do this right.

Next I'll start teaching him the meditation techniques Master Xin advised me to start with. He has to learn how to guard his mind before I start telling him the truths he needs to hear.

Harry needs to learn that Albus Dumbledore does not have his best interests at heart. That he will use incredibly powerful mind magic on him and others in order to manipulate him. That Tom Riddle also known as Lord Voldemort is not dead and still wants to do him harm.

Now I will send this Journal off with instructions to return it back to me in a week and hope that I am in a position to receive it. Is it foolish to wish myself good luck? I think I'll need it. Good Luck.

End Chapter 1


	3. Magic Thief

_**Authors Note**__: Justin is not a wizard by birth but by accident. Maybe Umbridge's theory on stealing magic wasn't totally incorrect, just very rare. This is probably the least likely to be continued out of my current ideas. I've posted about 90% of all that I've written as the other parts are just fragments. Pardon the quality of the proofreading as it's pretty slapdash._

* * *

**Magic Thief**

* * *

Justin didn't like bullies. In fact he would probably go so far as to say he hated bullies. His earliest memory of school was waiting in an office for his father to come in to talk to the vice principal about a fight he was in. He remembered being scared and thinking that dad was going to be very angry as he was always so busy at work. But dad hadn't been angry for long once the real story came out. Justin had been taken away as the vice principal had words with the bullies father. Soon he was eating ice cream as a reward for standing up for a younger boy at school. Justin could never remember his father being more proud of him and from then on he always tended to look out for and befriend those that were on the fringes.

Hence when many years later when he was walking back towards home through the park after watching a movie with some friends and he caught sight of an on older boy laughing and teasing a small boy he changed directions without thinking.

As he approached he recognised the older boy and vaguely remembered a friend mentioning that his name was Pedro and that he went to a boarding school a long way away and tended to keep to himself. Pedro was about two years older than Justin and had a mean look.

The other boy was much younger, younger than even Justin and cried out when Pedro pushed hard whilst holding the kids backpack with his other hand sending the kid twisting to the ground. Pedro chuckled nastily as he swatted the young boy with his own backpack.

"Hey! Give that back and leave him alone."

Pedro turned quickly his left hand reaching into his summer jacket and for a moment Justin thought he was going for a knife but when Pedro's eyes spotted him he just sneered and his hand re-emerged empty.

"Piss off or I'll hurt you next."

Pedro was a bit taller than Justin but was thin and looked rather weedy. Justin on the other hand had swimming lessons twice a week, boxed, played soccer and tennis on the weekends and worked out once a week in his dad's gym with his mom's personal trainer. He had fought and boxed bigger and older kids than Pedro but when he tried to think of something to say to intimidate the boy his mind was strangely blank and his mouth a little dry

Pedro really was intimidating. He had laughed loudly when his friend Craig had told him to be careful around Pedro but it no longer seemed very funny. Something told him to turn around and walk away but he fought it and kept going forward though a little slower.

Pedro looked a little surprised at that but certainly not intimidated, he just smirked and kicked the kid once more before walking forward to meet him.

Justin gulped and his chest felt tight. His arms started to feel heavy and his footing unsure as Pedro came in close.

"That was a mistake Justin, you should have just turned away. Tut Tut. Too late now."

Justin didn't like this at all, for one thing he didn't realise Pedro even knew his name and didn't seem the least bit intimidated. Justin was no bully but he certainly was no pushover either and he knew he looked as strong as he was. He also hadn't been afraid of anything for years. But now he felt like he was at his six years old birthday party again and the horse he was riding had bolted and was careening down that awful hill. He tried to tell himself Pedro was nothing special, hell his arms were weeds in comparison to his own. As Pedro came within a step of him he finally choked out.

"I'm not scared of you."

But they both knew it was a lie.

But when Pedro laughed and gave him a shoved him back against a large tree anger replaced part of that fear and reflexes took over. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed the backpack whilst he swung his right fist and connected with Pedro's jaw. It was a good punch that wouldn't have done a lot to a good fighter but against a boy it should have been enough. But Pedro didn't go down, he just grunted in surprise. Justin was shocked, that blow should have put him down, he boxed and that was a solid hit and Pedro hadn't even tried to dodge or roll with it. He had just stood there like he didn't care or didn't see it coming and had taken the punch.

Then Pedro backhanded him in the face and he staggered backwards his eyes watering and the taste of blood in his mouth. One eye felt like it was on fire and the other had closed in sympathy. A small part of him was saying that it wasn't possible, the boy was too weedy to have that strength. Then a fist took him in the stomach and he staggered sideways winded and coughing. He had to grab hold of the tree to prevent himself falling. His left hand still grasped that backpack that Pedro with his right and that helped him keep his balance.

"You're more fun than the little one anyhow Justin. I should be thanking you. The others never fight back."

Then Pedro laughed again and anger blossomed in Justin again. He didn't need to open his eyes, that grasp on the backpack made sure he wasn't far away and the laughter was right next to him so he let go of the tree and swung again. This time he put everything into the blow and was rewarded with a sharp crack when he connected with Pedro's chin.

Justin thought that finally he had done it and started pulling on the backpack. He was a still a dazed and his thoughts were far from clear. He wasn't able to hold more than one thought in his mind right then so his only thought was to get the bag.

"Ow.. you bloody muggle you'll pay for that."

Justin was surprised that Pedro was still able to talk. He forced his eyes open to see with some shock that Pedro was going for whatever was in his jacket once more. Now he was scared. Knives could kill and Pedro was moving quick. He heard Pedro saying something in some foreign language but he paid it no heed. It would hurt but he had to get that knife away so brought his right hand back and backhanded Pedro's left hoping that he knocked the knife away. Only as he connected did he notice that it wasn't a knife at all but a thin stick. He didn't have time to think much about it then though as his hand and Pedro's hand smashed against the tree he had forgotten about. There was a snap as the wood think snapped and a bright red flash and then he was falling.

His face hurt, his hand hurt and his stomach hurt and now he was falling but it was a weird kinda of falling. For one thing he didn't seem to falling down but rather falling in every direction and it seemed to keep on going. But to his surprise Pedro's face was still in front of him. He wondered how that could be, maybe they were falling together but then why was the tree still beside them. He still felt like he was falling and idly wondered if this was what free-fall felt like. Pedro seemed to be talking but in slow motion. Justin tried to take a step but his feet didn't want to move and neither did his hand when he attempted to move them. He tried to look around but his eyes seemed to be fixed straight ahead. Weird. He's attention was caught by his right hand still holding Pedro's left against the tree. There was that funny stick and it seemed to be glowing. It was a bit hard to look at since it was a bit out of focus.

His attention returned to Pedro's face and he noted that the expression was one of horror. It was weird but he hadn't really looked at the other's features before but now that they were frozen in front of him he was almost forced to. The older boy had a broad face but little in the way of flesh so it seemed that the skin was almost stretched across his wide skull. Brown bulging eyes were wide with filled with something that looked like terror. Justin decided he hadn't seen many ugly boys in his time.

He still felt like he was falling but not he was sure that he was still standing there frozen, just like Pedro. Though Pedro seemed to be glowing now. The panic from before had subsided into a weird curiosity but when the glow seemed to be coming out of Pedro and getting closer and closer to him the fear returned. The glow was getting brighter and brighter and Justin couldn't do anything to escape, his body refused to react and now the light was blinding and he couldn't even blink.

Then there was a loud bang and his falling now had a direction, his eyes finally snapped shut, wind was rushing and then there was branches and scratching and pain and then merciful darkness.

-o-o-o-o-

Justin came around to voices and pain. His right hand hurt and he was stuck in a tree or bush or something. Branches were stuck into him from all sides and his mouth tasted like blood. The left side of his face was stinging and that eye didn't want to open properly. Swollen likely. His stomach felt like it had been run over and everything else was just sore. His head throbbed and he was about to call out when he made out a voice say something strange, "Oblivate the kid and make sure there is no one else that saw anything."

Justin shut his mouth and went still. What the hell did that mean? They were going to kill a kid and then look for any witnesses. The voice wasn't that of a kid and he wasn't sure what he could do to help but he certainly wasn't just going to let that go. He decided to see if he could quietly untangle himself from the bushes he seemed to be stuck in but his first move caused him to fall a little and smash his head on the ground. The next throb sent him back into darkness as he heard to other voices give their assent.

-o-o-o-o-

The short stubby man in the lime-green robes was talking to a thin weedy women in hushed tone a few steps from the bed. The woman's large brutish husband stood next to him his face screwed up like he could smell manure.

"I've not seen a case of accidental magic backlash this severe and I'm sorry but his core is exhausted beyond recovery. If he is lucky he may have enough to sustain his life but he won't be able to use magic again."

"Lucky if he turns into a squid? He'd be better off dead. I want the best healer you have or I'll be talking to the Ministry."

"I'm sorry Ma'am but our best healer has already seen him and there is nothing that can be done but wait. We have treated his minor wounds and can but wait."

"That's not good enough I want.."

A moan from the bed caused her to pause and the husband moved forward to look at his son.

"Pedro. Speak up boy. What did you do?"

The healer rushed around to the other side of the bed and started casting a few diagnostic spells as the boy looked up blankly at the people in the room. No glimmer of recognition came to his eyes and then they closed and never opened again.

-o-o-o-o-

Pedro found himself standing in a small patch of parkland. He looked around and noted without much interest that the parkland only seemed to stretch twenty or so feet in each direction before fading into nothingness. Not blackness, whiteness or any sort of color, just nothingness. He considered that for a moment before deciding that he had nothing to compare it to and idle speculation wouldn't achieve anything so he looked around again.

He noted next that the colours were all wrong or maybe different to his previous experiences was the right way to describe it. A moment's consideration and he decided it was the lack of shadows that made everything look like it had been painted by a master artist with only a dozen colours and no shades. The grass looked look almost a solid sheet of green because no leaf was brighter or darker than those in front of it. No light he though to himself. Indeed when he looked up there was no sky, no sun, just more nothingness. Bordered by nothingness. No light, but can still see. He mentally listed the unusual things he had discovered and then noted a new one. No emotion. He considered the nothingness and what would be an appropriate emotion. Surprise and fear seemed most suitable, maybe curiosity as well. He noted that he didn't feel any of those or anything at all really so he added, 'feel no emotions' to his list before walking to the edge of the park. He looked at the nothingness for a moment before pushing his hand into it. He had no hand. He pulled his arm back and looked at where his hand used to exist. There was no pain, no blood, nor even a stump. It was like his arm just faded away where his hand used to be. He watched as over a period of minutes or an hour or longer it slowly reappeared.

He walked back to the middle of the parkland which was next to a big tree. He considered sitting on the grass and wondered why. He eventually decided he thought of sitting as that was what he would have once done and that there was no particular reason to do so now so he just stood there.

-o-o-o-o-

Justin come around this time to pain and hunger. His head was resting on the hard earth though his arms and legs were held above him by the branches of the bushes. Everything ached though his head wasn't throbbing so much anymore and his face felt better. Even his eye opened without pain. He wondered how long he had been stuck in these bushes. He noted it was getting dark and probably at least past dinner time so his last meal, lunch right before he caught the bus home must have been six or seven hours ago.

He groaned and slowly struggled against the branches to drag his hands and feet underneath him. His head felt so heavy and it was a relief to finally let the blood flow back into his legs.

There was no clear way out of the bushes he was in the middle and he did a fair amount of extra damage to them making his way out from the centre. He wondered how he got into the middle. Did he really fall into them or get thrown into them. There was no tree above the bushes and he must have been thrown a long way.

He looked around remembering Pedro and the small boy. There was no sign of anyone now and he wasnt even sure where the fight took place. He hoped the boy got his backpack back and wasn't too hurt. He didn't really think about Pedro as he made his way back towards his home.

Fifteen minutes later Leah was tending to his cuts and scratches. She shook her head at the condition of his clothes.

"Sorry Justin but I don't think I'll be able to fix these. Do you want me to pick up replacements for you in town when I do the shopping?"

"Don't worry about it Leah, it's not like I don't have enough clothes anyhow."

Leah smiled kindly, she knew as well that Justin was embarrassed by his collection of clothes. His mum rarely went shopping without buying him a half dozen new items. His father just wore business suits so Mae liked him to dress up fashionably.

"Indeed Madam bought you a new summer jacket today. I've left it out with suitable pants and shirt as she'll want you to wear it to the luncheon tomorrow."

Justin groaned, "Couldn't we have one Friday without a luncheon with one of her friends."

Leah chuckled as she took the sandwich platter away towards the kitchens.

Justin went looking for his parents to say good night. Dad was in his study checking share prices and his mother was sipping wine watching the fashion channel. Both replied without looking up and Justin went to bed much earlier than normal. Even though he had spent most of the afternoon unconscious in a bush he still felt rather tired. He guessed being unconscious wasn't the same as being asleep.

-o-o-o-o-

Morning came and Justin felt surprisingly good. The swelling on his face and eye had all but faded away and the scratches from the branches looked like they were days old rather than from yesterday. Even Leah who was going to clean them again was surprised and decided they really didn't need any attention. Justin wondered if maybe his memory was playing tricks as thinking about it a whole lot of yesterday didn't make sense. Maybe he had hit his head a lot harder than he imagined.

Shrugging he dressed up for the luncheon with his mum and all her fashion friends. He wasn't looking forward to the lunch. Not even his friend Frankie would be around. He was still off in Italy as his mum had just signed a contract with a fashion label over there.

The day panned out pretty much as he expected, his mother chatted with that designed and this model, drank plenty of champagne and Justin just wandered around nibbling on the platters and being complimented on his clothing and his mother's taste in clothing and being asked inane questions about school and his hobbies by uninterested people.

The only strange bit was when a really irritating member of the paparazzi managed to sneak through a bush and tried to get some pictures of Justin chatting to Winnie Torres. Justin swore at the man and the photographer's camera exploded. Justin and Winnie burst into laughter at the photographer's misfortune. Justin often ended up chatting with Winnie as it usually meant he was left alone by all the airheads. Winnie was unusual in their crowd as she was much bookish than the other children of the models and fashion designers and that meant that she was the outsider. Justin had been often asked why he spent any time with her which typically just reinforced his already low opinion of the other kids his age.

On the walk back to the car afterwards he had the strange feeling of being watched but the only thing he saw when looking around was a tabby cat that seemed to turn away when he glanced in it's direction. Then he was in the car and being driven home.

The next unusual thing that happened was when he was playing tennis the following weekend. It was the last game and he was playing doubles and he been upset to find out just before the game that his father was going to be away for his birthday again. Yet another big insurance case overseas and his father refused to delegate it to any of his assistants. Justin's bad mood was hurting his performance and his partner was getting frustrated at his inattention and had said a few words that Justin probably had deserved but certainly didn't do anything to improve his mood. It was his serve and he'd already hit two double faults an his partner had just told him he have been better of playing with his baby sister that Justin got pretty angry and hit the ball as hard as he could. No one had ever seen a ball burst into flames when it was served or gouge a small trench on the court. Of course the start of the trench certainly did prove that it was in.

He was as shocked as everyone else and after swapping to another court his anger had faded away and that and the fact that their opponents were a tad scared meant they easily made a comeback and won the game.

He was rather surprised when it didn't even make the local news but not as surprised at the visitor that came around the following evening.

-o-o-o-o-

Professor McGonagall had called ahead but still found herself waiting in a small lounge for half an hour before Justin and his parents came in. The butler had served tea and biscuits so at least she had something to nibble on as she looked around the rather modern and clean looking room. There were framed magazine covers and pages as well as plenty of fashion magazines and awards. She spotted a number of framed adverts for kids clothing showing Justin at various ages though not nearly as many as the pictures of his mother who looked to have had a very long and profitable career as a model.

The lady that entered the room looked quite a few years older than any of the photos so Professor McGonagall assumed that she had retired.

"Mr and Mrs Finch-Fletchley. Thank you for seeing me. This must be your son Justin.

Mr Finch-Fletchley nodded once before sitting in one of the lounge chairs. His wife took another and Justin sat himself in the middle of the large couch. Mr Finch-Fletchley spoke crisply with a very cultured tone.

"Yes, well. I'm not too sure that we shouldn't just get to the point here before we waste each other's time here. Roger mentioned you wished to talk about Justin attending your school in Scotland if I'm not mistaken. He seemed to suggest you were quite insistent on meeting us even though he assured you that Justin already has a place at Eton. He wasn't even able to come up with any background on your school."

Professor McGonagall remembered her discussion the previous day with the Finch-Fletchley butler. The man had been polite but rather firm and it had taken a fair amount of persuasion for the man to come around.

"Indeed. That wouldn't be surprising as Hogwarts doesn't exactly publicise it's existence widely and though I am sure Eton is a fine school there are certain aspects of our school that would mean it would be a much better fit for your son's future."

Justin watched with interest as strangely dressed scottish lady effectively told his dad that his decision to send Justin to one of the most respected schools was the wrong one. He had been made to sit in on a few of his dad's business meetings so as to get a feel for the business world so his dad said and he hadn't seen his dad back down on anything.

"And pray tell me why that would be the case."

Professor McGonagall considered her options on how to break the news to Justin's parents. Normally by Justin's age there had been enough unusual events that the parents would know something strange was happening. But in Justin's case has magic had bloomed rather late and his parents weren't even aware of any of the incidents that had brought him to the ministry's attention. Steeling herself she decided to go for the direct approach.

"Because your son is a wizard and must be trained to control his power. Now before you say anything let me first demonstrate that magic is indeed real."

A minute later Justin, Mr and Mrs Finch-Fletchley had just witnessed dancing tea cups, floating couches, an elderly lady turn into a cat and then back into an old lady and a coffee table turn into a exquisite grandfather clock.

Justin found himself continually repeating, "Wow."

With the grandfather clock ticking in the background Professor McGonagall started talking again.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the finest institution for learning the magical arts that I know of and whilst I would certainly recommend that you send Justin to study with us there are other options that I obliged to tell inform you of. Here in this package of material you will find not only brochures from the top schools in Europe but a handbook on the magical world for people unfamiliar with it."

She went to place the package down when she noticed that the coffee table was indeed gone so rather than revert the rather impressive piece of transformation that had created the Grandfather Clock she turned her tea cup into a new and matching coffee table and placed the books and brochures on that.

Justin has watched awe as she had done all that magic and had indeed unshrunk the information package from a tiny little wrapped box. As his father cleared his throat in preparation of speaking he quickly unwrapped the package and picked up the top brochure that described the school.

"Well this is rather a shock and I'm not altogether what to think about all this so I think we'll need some time to think about this. Maybe if you..."

Mrs Finch-Fletchley interrupted her husband for the first time in eight years. It wasn't as if they agreed on everything but eight years ago they had divided their responsibilities and that had been that. Amongst many other things it had been decided Mr Finch-Fletchley would make all decisions in regard to Justin's education.

"This magic, it can change your appearance?"

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, "Indeed, there are glamours to make you look different, to change your hair color amongst other things."

Mr Finch-Fletchley frowned, he was not happy about being interrupted and in a matter that was his responsibility. However he was distracted wondering if indeed this magic thing meant that the rules of responsibility created between him and his wife were in need of reviewing so he didn't bother to try and regain the conversation.

"It could make someone younger?"

"Well it's not generally possible to make someone younger but as far as your original question you could make someone appear younger."

Mae Finch-Fletchley turned to her son with wide eyes. She saw a chance, maybe the slimmest of one that this could all be real and that once again she might once again be able to walk the catwalk, appear on the cover of a magazine be worshipped by photographers and editors. She couldn't let this opportunity pass her by.

"Justin you must do this. You will won't you? Do you want this?"

Justin was young but no ones fool. He knew why his mother wanted this, it wasn't at if she had ever been subtle about anything in her life but this wasn't a bad thing. He wanted this as well. Sure Eton would be great and he had no doubts he would do well, his many tutors told him so and his dad never hired yes men. But magic, real magic like what Professor McGonagall had shown him could be his.

He looked at his dad and waited. No one said anything for a few minutes then his father nodded to him and took out a fresh notepad and an expensive pen. Justin smiled and listened as the real questioning began.

-o-o-o-o-

A week later Justin and Sally Ashdown-Bode entered the Leaky Cauldron after being dropped off nearby by Mr Finch-Fletchley's driver . Sally, as she preferred Justin to call her, was in her mid twenties, was pleasant, well spoken, intelligent and a squid. Mr Finch-Fletchley had hired her two days previously to be Justin's summer tutor. Though she couldn't teach him any magic she had attended a regular university to study business and literature and since they had learnt that Justin wasn't actually allowed to do magic out of school she seemed the perfect choice to teach him more about the wizarding world whilst still teaching him less magic related skills.

Sally was still looking a little uncomfortable after being forced to ask for help opening the entrance to Diagon Alley but Justin barely noticed as he stared around at the amazing place. Strange people, strange clothes, strange shops and the occasional strange creature.

Their first stop was a massive white building where there were even more strange creatures. Sally explained a little about Goblins and their role in the wizarding world before she took him in and exchanged a wad of notes for medieval looking coins. Sally had already explained the currency used in the wizarding world but couldn't explain the logic behind it.

Sally next took him to the wand shop where an old man whom he presumed from the name above the door to be Mr Ollivander was just ushering out his last customer.

"Make sure you clean and polish it regularly. Look after it and it'll look after you. And who do we have here? Come in come in."

The man's bright pale eyes peered into Justin's and he felt a little flutter like wind passing through a tree and the parkland where he had fought with Pedro came to mind. Though in his mind there was no one in the park, just trees and a brief wind that caused the leaves to gentle wave. Then the memory was gone and the Mr Ollivander was turning to peer at Sally.

"So one wand then. Come here boy and let me measure you. Wand arm please."

"Pardon?"

"Which arm would you hold a wand?"

Justin glanced at Sally who just replied with a tiny shrug. So Justin held out his right hand and the old man started measuring various parts of his arms with a tape measure as he spoke, "Each Ollivander wand has a magical core within a wooden case. I use a unicorn hair, a phoenix tail feather or a dragon heartstring for the core of all the wands I create as I find those provide the best results. Here give this one a wave. Oak and dragon heartstring, nine inches, whippy."

Justin gave it a little wave but it felt really awkward so he swapped it to his other hand just at Mr Ollivander reached for it. Mr Ollivander gave him a strange look and then took it back.

"Interesting Try this, holly and unicorn hair."

Justin took this one with his left hand and barely moved it before it was taken from him and another and then another was handed to him. Each he took with his left hand and occasional he felt a little something until Mr Ollivander smiled and handed him one that as soon as he grasped it emitted sparks of red and yellow, "Ahh well done there Justin, Ebony and dragon heartstring, nine inches, flexible. A good wand for charms. I'm sure it will treat you well and please make sure you care for it."

It was only as he had left his new wand and a rather nice wand care kit in his backpack that he realised that he had never actually told the old man his name.

He spent a lot of time in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions choosing a nice range of casual and more fancy dress robes. He tried to imagine what his mother would choose and picked accordingly knowning that she would be reviewing all his choices later and having anything that wasn't a perfect fit wouldn't be acceptable.

He picked up three times the books that he had on his book list following Sally's advice that coming from a non magical family he would need as much background material as possible.

He had trouble choosing a telescope as all the models that the shopkeeper recommended for school use were barely better than supermarket quality even factoring in the minor zoom and cleaning charms. It was only the top of the range ones that had the auto tracking charms and the auto labeling charms that seemed interesting and the shop keeper informed him that there weren't actually allowed for school use. In the end he decided he would just take his home telescope with interchangeable lens, polished gearing and a much better resolution than any of those available there. He would have to leave the auto tracking attachment at home as it was electronic and if the telescope turned out to not be suitable he'd mail order something else.

He and Sally stopped by Eeylops Owl Emporium as he wasn't keen on looking after a cat and he certainly wasn't interested in owning a toad. The store wasn't very big and the huge giant of a man was inside looking at owls took up most of the free space. Justin has to take two quick steps backwards to avoid be trampled with the man turned around. There was a small yelp and Justin spun and realised he'd stood on foot of a real skinny and kid dressed in absolutely terrible clothes.

"Oh sorry, didn't see you there. Not sure this shop is quite big enough for him.", Justin gave the small kid a grin as he stepped back beside the boy rather than on top of him.

"eh.."

"This is all so very cool. You here to buy an Owl as well?"

"Hagrid is buying me one as a present."

Harry seemed a little bit unsure of himself so Justin smiled broadly and indicated the big guy with his head, "Hagrid right? Never seen anyone like him before but he's hardly the strangest thing I've seen today. Birthday present is it? Happy Birthday. I'm Justin."

The other buy squeezed back a bit so that they had enough room to shake hands.

"Harry. eh.. Hello."

The big guy turned to look down presenting a cage with a beautiful snowy owl, "Well Harry how do you like her? Oh hi there. First year to Hogwarts as well?"

Justin blinked up at the other guy and gave Harry a quick glance. Was Harry really the same age as him. He looked so small and thin, maybe he was underfed but that didn't make a lot of sense looking at Hagrid. "Eh Yes Sir

"No need for that laddie, call me Hagrid. I'm the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts and you are?"

"Justin Finch-Fletchley Sir, I mean Hagrid."

Hagrid patted Justin on the shoulder almost sending him to his knees. Justin was astonished, not only was the guy huge but his strength was incredible.

"Pleasure Justin, I'll be seeing you on ya first day. Sure you'll love it. So Harry what you think?"

"She's beautiful but really you don't -"

"Nonsense Harry, told yeh that. I'll just pay for her."

As Hagrid turned away the Owl blinked a few times at Harry and then tucked her head under her wing.

A bright smile lit up Harry's face and Justin smiles as well.

"Nice Owl Harry. Hope I can find one as nice as yours."

"Thanks. ehh. See you later."

Justin and Harry waved to each other as Harry followed Hagrid out of the shop holding the large cage with the now sleeping Owl.

Justin spent about fifteen minutes in the store before he choose an Eurasian Eagle Owl that he decided to call Iris.

The rest of the shopping was fairly uneventful. Apart from picking up the rest of his necessary equipment he also picked up a few interesting magic knickknacks to show his parents and to play with. He saw a lot of very interesting other things but decided until he learnt more about magic it would be unwise to buy things that he didn't fully understand. He was tempted by all the fantastical magical trunks available but in the end just choose one that locked to his touch, had a minor weight reducing charm and a charm to improve durability.

Sally had followed him into every store except the Own Emporium and helped carry the trunk back out through the Leaky Cauldron and walked up the street till they found the car and headed home.


	4. The Forgotten Future

_**Author Notes**__: I enjoy reading Time Travel fics. Watching Harry take revenge for everything he was put though cannon or au. My favourite is probably being Reunion by Rorschach'sBlot. Anyhow thought I'd try putting a spin on the whole sending memories back. What if the memories are available until the future starts changing... and surely it wouldn't take much before everything changes. Posting about 60% of what I've written._

* * *

**The Forgotten Future - Chapter 1**

* * *

Harry Potter woke in his cupboard and cheered. Years of preparation, tens of thousands of Galleons, blood, sweat and tears had all paid off.

"Lumos"

His hand begun glowing with a soft white light sending the spiders scurrying into the corners. Harry grinned, his magic had come back with him. Voldemort wouldn't know what hit him and Dumbledore could stick his meddlesome nose up Snape's butt.

"What was that noise boy." The shout was followed by loud thumping footsteps as Vernon Dursley charged down the steps.

Harry grinned and with a magically enhanced kick sent the cupboard door flying open. Stepping out he held out a hand and Vernon found frozen mid stride.

"That's far enough Vernon. I have come into my own and now I can fix..." Harry paused as he tried to recall what he was thinking about. What was he going to fix?

"Boy you will..." Vernon's voice suddenly went quiet as Harry casually silenced him.

Harry tried to focus. Okay the ritual was successful. He had sent his magic and memories back to himself aged ten so he could change the future. Seconds ago he knew he what to do. Use his future knowledge to change the future but not so much that things changed and his memories were useless.

From behind the frozen Vernon Petunia screamed so Harry froze and silenced her.

He recalled the ritual. Everything seemed to be there except how he had learnt it. He remembered the runes he needed to cast and the ingredients he needed but he couldn't remember carving the runes or collecting the ingredients.

For a few seconds he knew he remembered everything from the future. He tried to work out what had changed and then with dread he stared at the frozen Vernon and Petunia.

"You have got to be kidding! I change one little thing and history changes enough that all my memories are gone?" Harry slumped to the floor and dropped his head into his hands.

"Damn, Damn, Damn."

He massaged his temples for a moment then went into the kitchen to make himself some tea.

As he sat at the kitchen table sipping on his tea he summoned one of Petunia's notebooks and a pen and wrote down a list of everything he knew about the future.

_First and only thing I remember thinking (apart from how wonderfully I succeeded - ha bloody ha) was 'Voldemort wouldn't know what hit him and Dumbledore could stick his meddlesome nose up Snape's butt.' Therefore I know;_

_1. I sent back my memories from the future which worked wonderfully for all of half a minute_

_2. For some reason I want to hit / beat up on a man named Voldemort._

_3. Dumbledore was/is meddlesome _

_4. Dumbledore had a connection to someone called Snape who I didn't/don't think too kindly of._

Harry dropped his head on to the table with a bang. "Why couldn't I have written myself a note before I opened up the cupboard door?"

He glanced into the hall at his frozen relatives before putting pen to paper again.

_5. I can do magic. Such as making my hand glow, freezing people and making them go silent._

"Mum? Dad? What's going on?"

Harry sighed loudly and took another sip of his tea as he waited for the inevitable explosion.

Dudley came storming into the kitchen fists clenched, "You freak, you fix my par..."

_6. I seem a lot more relaxed around my relatives now._

Harry summoned his relatives into the room and sent them to their three respective chairs.

"Well hello there Uncle, Aunty, Cousin. Presuming I'm not hallucination, and I'm just going to go along believing I aren't, you are in a bit of a pickle right now. Seems the little boy you have been treating like trash for the past nine and half years has grown some teeth. Now I have no doubt I could hurt you real bad right now and for some reason picturing your bodies bruised, battered and broken doesn't horrify me in the slightest."

_7. Nervous disposition seems a thing of the past (the past of five minutes ago anyhow)._

Harry smiled at the horrified looks on their faces. They had given up trying to scream and talk.

"What to do? What to do? I know spells to make you do..."

_8. Seems I have a extremely strong aversion to compulsion based spells._

Harry scratched his chin surprised to find it clean shaven. No. Pre-puberty chin.

_9. I had a beard before I came back._

"How is this for a deal. You leave feed me, given me pocket money and otherwise leave me alone and I don't start breaking bones and melting flesh? Vernon you first."

Vernon found he could hear his laboured breaths he looked into the cold green eyes in front of him. He was used to seeing fear there but all he saw was cold detachment. They were the eyes of someone you didn't argue with, they were worse than those of the chairman of the board and you didn't cross him. He was wondering if there was anyway to get out of this when he felt as if I massive weight had just landed on chest. The pain was severe and he could head a series of cracks as his ribs started to snapp. After three the pressure released and Vernon found himself speaking as quickly as possible, "Right. Okay. Deal."

"Good good. Dudley?"

"Why would I you frea... aarghh" Dudley grunted as his chest was suddenly being crushed.

"I'm sorry Dudley? I didn't quite hear that last thing you said. Was it perchance 'Freak'?"

There was a snap as one rib snapped before the pressure was gone, "No no.. Right.. Sorry.. ehh Harry. Wrong word was all. Deal Deal." Dudley gasped out.

"Good good. Petunia?" Harry smiled pleased.

"Yes yes, Deal. Just please don't hurt my little duddykins again"

Harry sniggered, "Wouldn't dream of it. However I will actually do it if you break your word but whatever. Anyhow I feel like pancakes today. That okay Petunia?"

Receiving a nod he sat back to read his list and add a new item.

_10. Torture seems to work well on the Dursleys. New me seems to consider it a useful tool and nothing else. Guess future me was rather more aggressive than young me._

A few minutes later he heard the click of the mail slot. He paid it little attention until he heard muttering in the hallways. He listened closely and suddenly found himself hearing the conversation as clearly as he was right next to it.

"You will give it to him Dudley and that's all there is to it."

"I don't want to go near the .." There was fleshy slap and a muffled sound as Dudley tried to speak through Vernons fat hand.

"Don't you dare Dudley. I don't like it either but you saw what he can do with his ma.. ma.. thing.. You just take it in and put it in front of him and eat your breakfast quietly or so help me son I'll chuck out all your video games."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

There was some grumbling before Dudley and Vernon joined Harry at the table. A very disgruntled Dudley dropped a thick and heavy envelope in front of Harry. "Why thanks Dudley."

Harry examined the envelope noting that it was made of yellowish parchment and addressed to emerald green ink to 'Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey'. There was no postmark nor return address though it did have a wax seal with a unusual coat of arms on the back.

Petunia started setting out the table for breakfast. She gasped when she saw the envelope and hurried back into the kitchen.

Harry raised his eyebrows at her before returning his attention back to the envelope. He opened the envelope slowly then unfolded and read the letter.

After carefully folding the letter and returning it to the envelope he dished himself a few pancakes, added a generous helping of maple syrup and began eating.

Seconds later Vernon and Dudley imitated him. Petunia cautiously came out again with a jug of juice and then she too joined in the breakfast.

After polishing of his plate and juice Harry carefully wiped his mouth with a napkin before speaking. "How about some light conversation?" He smiled at Petunia though his eyes were cold, "Dearest Aunt Petunia. What can you tell me about this?"

"I don't.. I don't know what you mean."

"Come now. I could tell you recognised it. It'd be easier for you to just tell me as I don't want to go sifting through your thoughts for hours. Harry blinked and made another note.

_11. I believe can read minds if I choose to._

Petunia and Vernon exchanged glances. When Vernon lowered his eyes to look back at his breakfast Petunia sighed. "Dudley take your breakfast and eat in your room... Now!"

Once Dudley was gone, which took a few more threats Petunia closed the door and sat back down.

"You parents, my sister, well... She was a witch. Went to that school." She stabbed a finger at the envelope. "Got one just like it she did then disappeared off there. Came back for vacation with all sorts of awful things and stories. Got herself married to one as well. A wizard she called him. After school they got married and had you. Next I heard they had been killed and you were dumped on our doorstep with just a letter from that man."

Harry frowned, "Which man?"

"Dumbledore was his name."

Harry opened up his letter again and read the second line, "Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster. So he's the one responsible for putting me here. Looks to have a few titles to his name. Powerful I imagine."

_12. Dumbledore likely refers to Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Responsible for placing me with the Dursleys._

"So no car crash then? Wasn't drunk at all?"

"Eh... no.. sorry. Note just said that an dark wizard had killed them and it was best for your and our protection that you live with us."

"Protection?" Harry frowned, was there a legitimate reason he had been put here?

"Something about magic that would protect us all as long as you lived here."

Harry stood up and Petunia and Vernon shrunk back but Harry paid them no heed. He walked to the front door and opened it. Closing his eyes he concentrated and soon he could feel them. Magical wards. He spent a few minutes there in contemplation before returning to the table and pouring himself another tea.

_13. Magical wards/charms around No. 4 Privet Drive. Ward against Evil Intent (blood), Mail Ward (keyed), Wards versus Scrying (layered/keyed), Wards (3) versus Tracking (keyed), Ward versus Magical Detection (keyed). Conflict Charm (keyed). Anchor Charm, Scrying Charms (2)._

Harry frowned and closed his eyes again for another minute. Petunia and Vernon glanced at each other worriedly but didn't leave the table.

_14. Charms on self. Conflict Charm (keyed). Magical Binding. Tracking Charms (3), Health Tracking (2), Magical Activity Tracking (accidental/wanded). _

_15. I have two magical signatures. Younger one has the binding/magical activity tracking charms keyed to it. Older seems to be only partially similar to younger one. Have a feeling that magical signatures don't normally change as you age. Modified by accident or on purpose?_

Harry glanced up and noted that his Uncle and Aunt were still sitting there. He pushed his plate away. "Oh that's enough for the moment. Thanks."

He summoned a sheet of Petunia's good quality stationery and wrote a reply to the school.

"Oh yes. I won't be going to Stonewall High. I'll likely need some money for school supplies. I hope that won't be a problem Vernon?"

"Eh.. no of course not. How much do you need?"

"Not sure. I'll ask."

Harry finished writing his letter folded it into a narrow strip then sealed it with a piece of wax from a previously unopened wax sealing kit Dudley had been give as a birthday present a few years back. He conjured a small metal seal with his initials and it and stamped the warm wax.

"Now to find an owl. This could be interesting." He muttered more to himself than to his relatives.

He checked the backyard first since that was the only yard with decent sized trees and was happily surprised to see a tawny owl perched in one of the low branches.

"Well well. I guess you are small bird indeed. Knew I was writing a letter or just waiting there just in case?"

The owl just stared at Harry with unblinking eyes which Harry found rather amusing. He attached the folded parchment to the owl's leg and watched it fly out of view.

Harry cleaned up the second bedroom using the simple method of banishing it's entire contents into Dudley's bedroom and then proceeded to transfigure a number of stones from the rear garden into a nice set of furniture. Once that done he conjured some carving tools and carved permanency runes into the furniture.

He sat on his new chair and spun around a few times as he twiddled thumbs. Noticing the oversized rags that he was wearing fluttering around he frowned and muttered, "These clothes won't do at all. Nor these glasses."

After a little bit of self transfiguration to repair his eyes he bounced happily down the stairs and into the lounge room. "Vernon I'm going shopping. Be a good old chap and lend us your credit card and a few pounds why don't you. Many thanks."

Vernon's draw dropped open as Harry summoned the card and wad of cash straight out of his wallet before striding out the front door waiting not a second for a response, "Ehh.. right"

As he exited the house he transfigured his clothing into something that was slightly better fitting and not so torn. He frowned at the colour and cut. "Guess I'm no fashion designed in the future."

After transferring the tracking charms to the mailbox he apparated to the underground carpark of the nearest mall. Luckily he'd been in the carpark, true that he hadn't been able to go in any further but he was sure they would have clothing shops. He was rather surprised to find out just how many shops there were.

The next three hours he spent quite a lot of Vernon's money putting following the advice of every sales girl that approached him though no more than one per shop. Luckily there was a lot of suitable shops. It only took simple confundus charms to have the checkout people accept Harry using Vernon's card.

Afterwards, now well dressed and with his pockets full of his shrunken purchases he discovered the cinema. Four screenings later he decided it was time for dinner so he apparated back to his bedroom and banished all his clothing into the wardrobe and drawers. He conjured some plain white soft linen deciding it'd be easier just to conjure clean linen each day rather than wash it.

Then he went downstairs to join the Dursleys for dinner.

"Thanks for the loan of your card Vernon." He stated as he dropped the card in front of his uncle before sitting in front of his plate. "Good day at work I hope."

Vernon fought down his anger and grunted out, "Fine. Was fine."

"Good good. Ahh Shepherd's Pie. Thanks Petunia."

Petunia took a calming breath and replied, "Thanks.. Harry"

Dinner afterwards proceeded quietly. Dudley presumably around at one of his friends places. Harry didn't mind.

After dinner Harry went and watched TV in the lounge room. Vernon stayed in the kitchen reading his newspaper whilst went upstairs after finishing the cleaning.

_-the-forgotten-future-_-

Harry slept well and woke up refreshed. The wards on his room and magical lock on the door untouched. After breakfast he went out the back and conjured a deck chair and read the newspaper. He found it a little hard to handle the size at first. His hands seemed a little small so he shrunk the newspaper down a bit till it was comfortable.

He was halfway through when an owl flew down and landed on the arm of the chair. Harry ruffled the owl's head feathers and summoned a mouse from the garden. "Many thanks. Hope they not working you too hard little owl." The owl responded by devouring the mouse.

A smiling Harry opened up the letter and begun muttering to himself, "Dear Harry. Thank you.. very pleased.. etc etc.. trust vault, cool... key.." He shook the envelop and snagged the key and a train ticket as they fell. "Neat.. Diagon Alley.. Leaky Cauldron... Kings Cross.. nine and three quarters.. September first.. etc etc.. McGonagall."

He ruffled the owl's feathers once more as he stood. "Time to go shopping my little friend. I wonder if I can apparate there."

"Leaky Cauldron." He turned but went nowhere.

"Diagon Alley." Same result.

He looked down at the little own, "Really.. I change one tiny thing and every single future memory is gone like that. So unfair! What does me roughing up my relatives got to do with the location of Diagon Alley?"

The owl just stared up him the mouse long gone.

"Hey cool. Not only have I started talking to myself I'm now talking to owls. Do you think I should write that down too? Naah."

Harry shook his head and laughed lightly. "Don't leave yet Mr. Owl. I'm just going to let the Deputy Headmistress that I won't need an escort. Directions look easy enough to follow."

A little later Harry appeared around the corner from the local train station. A ticket and three changes he arrived at the nearest station to Diagon Alley. It was late morning by the time he arrived outside the Leaky Cauldron. He'd already scouted out a few convenient places to apparate to nearby. No need to catch those trains more than once.

Entering the dingy little pub and looking around he smiled broadly. This was more like it, strange people in strange clothing. Most but not all wearing robes. He walked up to the bar and looked up at the bald and toothless bartender, "Hello. Kinda new to all this. Could you direct me how to get through to Diagon Alley."

The bartender smiled and nodded, "Sure young man. I'll just show... Merlin's Beard.. you're Harry Potter!"

Harry's smile wavered. He had no memory of meeting this person before maybe his memory issues were worse than he thought. "Ehh... yes, sorry but have we met?"

Harry noticed that the pub had gone quiet, he wondered if he should run now.

"No no.. but I.. I mean we all know who you are. Its a great honor to finally meet you."

Harry found his hand being shaken by the old bartender whom he was surprised to note now had tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Suddenly he had a crowd around him all wanting to shake his hands. A brief passive scan seemed to show that everyone was happy to see him so his smile returned and he started shaking hands with everyone, "Well I'm a bit surprised at all this. All new wizards get this treatment?"

There was a pause as everyone took in what he had said. Tom spoke up first, "No, but you're famous. Surely you know that?"

Harry shrugged, "Nope. What am I famous for?"

The crowd exchanged glances before a tall thin man with a white goatee spoke up, "Why for defeating you-know-who, darkest wizard in memory."

"Who? Don't remember defeating any dark wizard. Only found out about being a wizard yesterday."

An elderly lady choked out, "But you must know. Everyone knows you Mr. Potter. You ended you-know-who's decade of terror on Halloween 1981."

Harry frowned, "I would have been a little over a year old at the time seems strange that I was out hunting dark wizards that young. Does this dark wizard have a name?"

"Well Mr. Potter it's not like you went out hunting him. He came for you and after... eh.. well he tried to kill you and then he died. His name, well no one likes to say it so we say you-know-who." Tom looked a little unhappy now. Harry noted that many around him were looking a little embarrassed.

Harry pursed his lips, "So he screwed up when he tried to kill me and someone got himself killed. This wouldn't be the person that killed my parents would he?"

"Eh yes, sorry. They tried to protect you and you-know-who killed them."

Harry growled, "Can someone please tell me his name? This is ridiculous."

An ancient looking lady sitting at a nearby table croaked out in a voice that sounded like it had seen a million cigarettes, "He called himself Lord Voldemort young man."

Most of the room gasped but Harry pushed his head through the crowd so he could see her better. He bowed his head to her. "My thanks Madam. Made of sterner stuff I see."

The ancient lady cackled, "Not really, just been ready to move on for a very long time. Death and his minions hold no fear over me. Get on with you young man before the others come to their senses and smoother you again."

"Again my thanks." Harry gave Tom a very pointed look and the old bartender quickly led Harry to a small door that led into a small wall courtyard.

When Tom drew his wand Harry asked, "What's that for?"

Tom smiled down at Harry as he started tapping the wall, "This here is my wand, with a wand you will be able to control your magic Mr. Potter."

Harry frowned a little puzzled, "What if you drop it? Can you still do magic?"

Tom shook his head, "Not really. Being young you probably cast a little bit of accidental magic. Can't control that. Some powerful wizards are said to be able to do a few little spells without their wand but even that is a rumor. If anyone could it'd be either Merlin himself or Albus Dumbledore."

Harry smiled, "Cool. Merlin is real. Is he in charge then?"

Tom laughed, "Sorry Mr. Potter Merlin is long gone. Albus Dumbledore however is the headmaster at Hogwarts and I imagine you'll be meeting him come September the 1st."

Harry frowned. Albus Dumbledore was sounding like more of a problem each time he heard about him. Tom at least seemed to believe he was the most powerful wizard. But if so why was he a mere headmaster at a school. Making a mental note to check out what those other titles under Dumbledore's name meant he walked through the arch.

As the arch closed he quickly put a small notice-me-not over his face hoping that would prevent a reoccurrence of what happened in the Leaky Cauldron.


	5. The Forgotten Future - v2

_**Author Notes**__: An experiment. Taking my idea for 'The Forgotten Future' and writing it in the first person. Comments more than welcome._

* * *

**The Forgotten Future - Chapter 1**

* * *

I feel reality slide through me, time crash past me in waves and light stream past in multi-coloured ribbons as it twists back to its origin. I find it all rather 'cool' and watch amused as the echos of my thoughts cause ripples in the texture of reality. The payoff for investing years of time and magic into one highly powerful ritual.

Then with a small sucking pop I am now laying down in a cool, dark place.

"Tempus?" I question and immediately I know that it's 6:32am July 24th 1991.

"Yippee-ki-yay, mo...", I yell as I leap up. My joyous exclamation is interrupted by a large thud, that of my head smashing into the roof of the tiny cupboard. I fall back down letting loose a few obscenities nastier than I had intended to. Much nastier than a ten year old boy should know. I'll work on acting appropriately later. Sadly I'm not Bruce Willis. He pulled if off so much better.

I won't let agony nor a bleeding forehead dull my joy, my smile tightens just a fraction. This calls for a celebration. Firewhiskey might not be a great idea at this age, it'd probably make me sick as a dog. Which reminds me. I know where Sirius has hidden some mighty decent stuff. I need to procure that before he gets near it. My smile turns evil. Time is on my side.

I hear some loud noises from above me and I remember that I am no longer living alone. There are my muggle relatives... no victims.. above me. My smile stretches so far that I can feel my cheeks begin to ache with the unfamiliar movement. My relatives first, then I'll save Sirius, after that there will be plenty of time to deal with that meddlesome old Dumblefool, that miserable excuse for a man, Snivellus and then snake face himself, Moldy Shorts.

A thudding right above me and falling spiders alerts me that walrus senior is coming down the stairs and I suddenly can't help but think of the opening scene in raiders of the lost ark with the giant stone ball rolling after Harrison. I snigger and attempt to kick open the cupboard door. I glare at the cupboard door that now has right leg now sticking through the middle.

"Idiot" I mutter as I roughly extract my leg managing to tear open a nasty gash along my leg. It doesn't bother me, hell, thai massages hurt more than that.

Walrus reaches the bottom of the stairs as I banish the cupboard door off it's hinges and halfway through the hallway wall. Ha, fix that Vernon!

There is an inarticulate grunt from the lump and I exit the cupboard and straighten up to my full height. Damn it.. I really am short. I attempt to make myself taller and nothing happens. Ahh.. bloody bindings well I'll fix that later. Walrus is about to blow his top.

He reaches out with his two meaty hands to try and grab me and I banish him down the hallway and out through the front door. The crash as he takes the front door off it's hinges is most satisfying.

Two cries from the stairway alert me that Walrus Junior and The Horse are up as well.

As I stick my head over the banister to look up at them with a grin only to pause as blood begins dripping into my eye. Rolling my eyes at my own stupidity, I'm no longer carrying an bandolier of potions so I better take a bit more care of myself. I quickly heal my head and leg wounds.

Horse squarks, "Vernon? What happened Vernon?" as Walrus Junior blubbers and attempts to hide behind the Horse. I chuckle as I remember a certain scene from True Lies where Arnie's sidekick dodges behind a pole as Mr. Big Terrorist lets loose with a hail of bullets. Hey cool. That shouldn't be out yet. I can go watch it at the cinema.

A moan reminds me of Vernon laying on the remains of the front door. I notice he almost made it to the sidewalk. Sighing I summon him back into the house and dump him, none too gently in the middle of the hallway before peaking outside.

Damn, the neighbour, Mrs what's-her-name-like-I-care is staring wide eyed at me. Obliviate, confundus, farting jinx and sorted. I repair the door and wander back in.

Walrus Senior moans again and The Horse, with Walrus Junior, come clopping down the stairs to check on him. I run a quick scan and heal the serious injuries, sloppily, on purpose.

I'm still short so I try and push it a bit harder. Now I can feel the binding. This calls for a ritual.

One kitchen table, one highly expensive fish filleting knife, some blood runes, a set of overly perfumed candles and I'm shaking like a wet dog as the binding peels away. As I hop down from the table I notice something very weird, my head feels lighter. I can feel that the binding has gone and my magic is free, that's as expected. This whole light headed thing, it's new.

Shrugging I pop a beer and tweak Walrus Senior's recliner till it suits me. It'll be an hour before I should cast anything. Oops.. I forgot I had petrified the relatives in the hall so they didn't disturb the ritual. Guess they'll have to stay like that for an extra hour before I can cast the counter, oh dear. I chuckle.

A sip the beer. Average. I try and remember which beer is my favourite and discover a problem. I don't remember. Weird. The unbinding ritual doesn't affect memory from my readings. I try to remember what food I like and though I can remember various foods from my time with the Dursleys I can't remember anything past that. Okay, little bit concerned now. Mr Smile is going bye bye.

The next hour consists of my trying to recall things from my future and swearing. Towards the end of the hour it is much more of the swearing than trying to remember. That and kicking a lot of things. Pity about the television, guess half a beer was enough anyhow.

_-the-forgotten-future-_

I've worked it out. I've changed the future. I knew it was going to happen. That would have been the whole reason for looping my soul. What I didn't expect was that changing the future would invalidate all future memories. I still have some magical knowledge. I still remember spells, rituals, runes and the like. I know spells that I obviously learnt from books but I can't remember reading the books. My knowledge of arithmancy, theory and languages is all gone. I have fragments, things that I remembered over the past couple of hours and those are just echoes.

This sucks.

What's worse is don't remember the main reason for coming back, or at least I don't think so. I have a feeling that things were bad. how bad, what was bad, who was bad, I just don't remember.

I do recall that my godfather, Sirius needs my help. Have a memory of disheveled, unhealthily thin, pale waxy skinned and filthy man that looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

Then there is Dumblefool. I'm guessing that's not his correct name or his parents ought to be shot. Picturing a tall ancient man, crooked nose, psychedelic robes and more facial hair than most hippies. Feeling that he's an interfering and meddlesome man and someone I need to keep away from.

Next was the sneering visage of a greasy, hooked nosed, sallow skin man in black robes. I have the feeling I need to inflict a great deal of pain on that person. Snivellus.

Last was Moldy Shorts. Here I picture what you might get if you crossed an albino snake with the winner of Mr Uglyverse. White face with red eyes, slits for nostrils and almost non existent lips. Snake face indeed and someone who is in much need of killing.

My only real memories I have now are of the past years with my oh so loving relatives. I am aware that my personality yesterday was nothing like what it is today. Strange that I've been changed by experiences I can no longer remember. Mental shrug. Deal with.

Oh, look, the exterior doors won't open anymore and all the walls, doors and windows are unbreakable. The house has become an indoor swamp and the only thing to eat is overripe fruit and sickly rats.

I tell my relatives as I walk through the wall.

"I'll be back... in around ten years or so".

Which is about the same amount of time they treated me like garbage.

An hour casting a fidelius using a random passing driver as the secret keeper and I'm ready to leave. I have all Walrus Senior's cash and cards. Nothing else in there I want.

I'm standing out front of the totally unnoticeable house wondering where to go when an owl flies up to me. It's looking a little flustered and looking at the address of the envelope I chuckle understandingly. Poor thing. I summon a mouse for the owl as I read the letter.

Well at least I know who Dumblefool is now, the headmaster of the school I have just been invited to. Maybe I should find another school. However at the moment I need more information and since this is my one contact I write a few questions on the rear. I ask the owl if it'll be able to find me in London before I send it off. I do so hope that when the owl nodded it was actually understanding and answering my question in the positive.

I will myself to be somewhat taller but let it drop after a few minutes. I don't have enough body mass to hold that without straining myself. I'm tempted to make the conditions inside the swamp worse.

I eye the car for a moment before deciding I'd probably just cause an accident. I end up taking the train to a nice hotel in central London. One confundus later and my dear uncle is paying for a comfortable room with a fantastic view of the Thames. After a massive lunch in my room it's time to go shopping. My transfigured clothing is not holding up well. I have discovered that transfiguring muggle clothes tends to hasten their demise and my cousin's seconds were already barely better than rags.

I have an enjoyable afternoon buying new clothing and shoes. Sales girls are all very helpful. I buy the best quality I can so that as I fill out I can resize them without them immediately falling apart.

I am enjoying another massive dinner and a glass of red wine. Heady! A tapping on the window alerts me to incoming mail. I animate a bite of steak and the owl has fun chasing it down. Well I guess it has fun. Smart but not the most expressive creatures. At least now I know where to go for my magical shopping needs. I'm pleased that it's looks to be only a fifteen minute walk.

After dinner I head downstairs and laugh my way through Hudson Hawk. I've missed out on so much living with the Dursleys. I wonder how Walrus Junior is doing without television or radio. Maybe I should call them and ask them. I wonder if they have tried calling anyone and tried explaining to anyone where they are. I laugh some more.

I order myself some supper in my room before falling into a dreamless sleep.

_-the-forgotten-future-_

After a filling breakfast I walk to the Leaky Cauldron. Dingy and cheap. Couldn't be more different from my hotel if they tried. I enter it feeling the touch of wards as I cross them. Inside there are weird people wearing weird clothing. I have to dress like this?

The letter said the bartender's name was Tom and to ask him how to get into the alley. I go up the bald and toothless old man and tell him about the letter and all looks like it's going to be fine till he spots Mr. Scar.

"Merlin's beard! You're Harry Potter."

I'm wondering how the hell he knows that. Is my scar famous or something?

"Yes I am. Have we met before?"

He's shaking his head with a massive smile and I hear movement all around the place. Oh god.

"No no... but I... I mean we all know who you are. Its a great honor to finally meet you."

Now the bartender is tearing up and shaking my hand. What is all this? I thought things were complicated enough before.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Now I have a crowd around me all wanting to shake my hand. I'm really tempted to start banishing them but they do seem to be friendly if stupid. Overly friendly. Pat my head again and you are losing that hand.

I push my way back to the bartender and ask loudly.

"What's going on? Why do all these people know me? Does everyone get this treatment"

Oh god. I'm rapid firing questions. I guess these people are making me nervous. At least the crowd becomes quiet as Tom answers.

"No, but you're famous. You must know that?"

I shrug. I bet that's another of those lost memories.

"Had no idea. What am I famous for?"

The crowd exchange glances before a tall thin man with a white goatee speaks up.

"Why for defeating you-know-who, darkest wizard in memory."

Darkest wizard in memory? Well not in my memory obviously.

"Who? Don't remember defeating any dark wizard. Only found out about being a wizard yesterday."

An elderly lady coughs a few times before she manages to speak.

"But you must know. Everyone knows you Mr. Potter. You ended you-know-who's decade of terror on Halloween 1981."

Hang on. I'm famous for defeated a dark wizard ten years ago. What kind of one year old does that?

"I was out hunting dark wizards when I was one year old? Isn't that unusual? Does this dark wizard have a name?"

Oh joy. Rapid fire questions again.

Back to goatee man.

"Well Mr. Potter it's not like you went out hunting him. He came for you and after... eh.. well he tried to kill you and then he died. His name, well no one likes to say it so we say you-know-who."

Toms looking a little unhappy now. Many others are looking a little embarrassed.

Okay. So I just happened to be around at the time. That makes a little more sense. Still doesn't explain why I'm famous.

"So he screwed up when he tried to kill me and someone got himself killed. This wouldn't be the person that killed my parents would he?"

"Eh yes, sorry. They tried to protect you and you-know-who killed them."

What is with these people.

"Can someone please tell me his name? This is ridiculous."

An ancient looking lady sitting at a nearby table croaks out in a voice that sounded like it had seen a million cigarettes.

"He called himself Lord Voldemort young man."

Most of the room gasped. Sheep.

I push my way through to her table and bow my head.

"My thanks Madam. Made of sterner stuff I see."

The ancient lady cackles, "Not really, just been ready to move on for a very long time. Death and his minions no longer hold fear over me. Get on with you young man before the others come to their senses and smoother you again."

I nod my head again. Voldemort. Voldy. Moldy. Moldy Shorts. Hang on I have to kill him. That's what my memory was. Not a memory of having killed him.

"One moment please. Are you sure that Voldemort is dead?"

The crowd gasps again. This is going to get boring real quick. The ancient lady however narrows her eyes thoughtfully and peers at me.

"They never found a body. They say that the killing curse rebounded off you right there..."

She points at my scar.

"...then destroyed him."

I touch the scar. I hadn't thought much of it for many years. I decide it warrants a lot more checking.

"So the killing curse usually destroys your body then?"

The room is dead quiet now. Someone enters through a door somewhere and is shushed immediately. The ancient lady shakes her head slowly.

"No. The killing curse normally leaves no mark. Just a corpse."

Yep. This all makes absolutely no sense at all. Welcome to the wizarding world. Please check your common sense at the door.

"So I'm guessing he's not really dead then. Probably hanging around waiting to finish what he started ten year ago. Best I go get my school books now. Nice to meet you madam. Can you let me into Diagon alley now, Tom?"

No one said anything as Tom leads me into a small walled courtyard and pulls out a wand.

I had noticed that almost everyone in the bar had a wand. I realise I'm going to have to do a whole lot of studying to replace my memories. I decide to try and act like I know nothing about this world. Actually shouldn't be too hard. I really don't.

I point at his wand.

"What's that?"

Tom smiles down at me as he starts tapping the wall with it. I hate being so short, it feels wrong.

"This is my wand, with your own wand you will be able to control your magic Mr. Potter."

I need a wand to do magic? Well that does agree with what I have been doing over the past two days. Every answer two more questions.

"What if you drop it? Can you still do magic?"

Tom shakes his head. I wonder if he shook and nodded all his hair out.

"Not really. Being young you probably cast a little bit of accidental magic. Can't control that. Some powerful wizards can do a few spells without their wand. Wizards like Merlin and Albus Dumbledore."

Dumblefool again. Not just the headmaster then. I definitely need more information. But I don't want to be too obvious about it.

"Cool. Merlin is real. Is he in charge then?"

Tom laughs, amused. I'm a comedian.

"Sorry Mr. Potter, Merlin is long gone. Albus Dumbledore however is the headmaster at Hogwarts and I imagine you'll be meeting him come September the 1st."

Only if I can't find a better alternative. I thank Tom and enter the alley.


	6. The Six Million Dollar Wizard

**The Six Million Dollar Wizard**

* * *

**Summary**: During Summer after the Tri-Wizards tournament an experimental operational to save Harry's life has unexpected consequences. Harry had roughly canon power level (100 dementor patronus) and intelligence (head boy/girl parents) but faster, stronger, super senses and healing. The Six Million Dollar Man provided the seed for this story but I am not doing a Harry is a cyborg story here.

* * *

Harry tossed the finished newspaper back into the bin he had scavenged it from with a frustrated grunt. Still nothing. No deaths, no disappearances, no unexplained anythings. In a way Harry thought he should be pleased but it didn't make sense. Voldemort was back and he wasn't killing and murdering. Well he hadn't since he had ordered Cedric dead. Or if he was it wasn't getting into the news. That wasn't a pleasant thought. Maybe it was not just his so called friends that were hiding the truth from him.

"It's Potty!" A sneering voice called out from down the road interrupting his thoughts.

Harry groaned as he saw a three of Dudley's brutish friends walking towards him, and worse, Dudley wasn't with them. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. He was already depressed. Not that there was any good time to deal with Dudley's gang. He headed away along the footpath at a brisk walk.

"Hey wait up Potty, we just want to have a friendly chat with you." Pier's words dripped with sarcasm.

Harry didn't pause, he pushed himself to walk as fast as possible without breaking into a jog. He glanced behind him. They were doing the same, no one wanting to turn this into an all out chase. Harry's eyes narrowed as he saw Piers reach down and grab something from a garden bed. He pushed himself harder but keep his attention mainly on Piers him in case it was a rock that he had picked up.

The path dipped but Harry didn't stumble, he knew this road well, it was just the ramp down to the gutter before the road crossing. He started to turn his head to check the road when a sudden yell came from Piers, "Hey!"

The tone caught Harry's attention and his head snapped fully back to stare at Pier and he speed up readying himself to dodge.

The blaring of the horn right before the car hit alerted Harry to the fact that maybe Pier had actually been trying to warn him.

Pain.

Nothing.

* * *

Harry slowly came around. He first thought was that he was underwater. For a moment he imagined that he was in the Black Lake trying to rescue his friends before he remembered he had already done that. He tried to open his eyes and look around but his body refused to obey. His thoughts started to race and it took a few moments before he remembered that Madam Pomfrey often cast body-binds on students with bad breaks so they couldn't damage themselves further. Back in the hospital wing and term hadn't even started. Great. He calmed himself and finally heard something. Voices, though strangely distorted. It was as if they were a great distance away but still loud enough to just hear.

"Well we have had procedure valued at six million dollars, of course once we get it out of the experimental level that will be adjusted. The foundation however will cover that and all related expenses if you give us permission to test it on your boy. You will however also need to approve regular checkups for the next ten years, a week to two each time." said a voice with a strange accent.

"Dollars?" a voice that Harry quickly recognised as Uncle Vernon's.

"Yeah sorry, all the prices are in US Dollars, the procedure and drugs were all developed in Texas. However we have yet to get FDA approval to run trials there yet. Now as I mentioned there are significant risks involved but in this case, well..." the first voice trailed off. Harry started to think of this as voice as 'the American'.

"I'm not worried about that. You did say that you will keep him in the hospital and pay all costs until he's rehabilitated right?" Vernon almost sounded pleased.

"Eh... that's right. Of course you and your wife can visit as often as you like and we will give you regular updates on his progress." the American a little bit confused but still trying to be reassuring anyhow.

Vernon snorted, "Don't you worry about that. So where do I sign?"

Harry was starting to realise he was in a normal hospital. A muggle hospital. He tried to call out, to yell, to scream that he needed to be taken to Hogwarts, to Madam Pomfrey. But the voices continued on discussing which forms needed to be signed, which pages, which details needed filling out. Harry could almost hear the scratching of Vernon's ballpoint rapidly signing his health away.

A loud female voice spoke obscuring Vernon and the American's conversation, "Seeing a little too much activity here. Up the dose by 5 ml."

Harry tried to yell out one more time before everything faded away.

* * *

"Harry?" said a very faint female voice.

Harry tried to answer but his mouth seemed to be glued together.

"Just relax Harry. You have been under for a long time. I'm going to wash your face and then you can try and have a sip of water." the voice was calm and professional. Harry could hear it better now.

A damp cloth was applied to his face and feeling returned in its wake. It was as if the cloth was wiping away the numbness. The cloth left for a moment. When it returned it woke up Harry's lips and gums and a straw was inserted into his mouth. Harry took a grateful drink but before he could properly relieve the thirst he now became aware of the straw was removed.

"Just a little at a time Harry."

"Where.. where am I?" Harry asked, his voice sounded a little strange and he struggled to form the words.

"You are in a hospital Harry. You had an accident. Just relax. We are looking after you."

Harry shook his head slightly, "No, I mean which hospital? How long have I been here?"

There was a slight pause before the voice replied. Harry could detect a little bit of surprise now. "You are in the Royal London Hospital, you have been here six weeks now. Can you tell me your full name?"

Harry tried to open his eyes but they felt like they were stuck closed, "Harry James Potter. Why can't I open my eyes?" An edge of panic entered his voice. Was he going to end up like professor Moody?

"Don't worry Harry. It's just a bandage, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. You had an operation. Part of the treatment included very bright lights and we wrapped your eyes to protect them. I'll get the doctor and we'll see about getting the bandages off." The voice was mostly pleased but there was still an element of surprise. Harry wondered what was surprising about what he had said.

He listened to footsteps move away from his bed, a door open and close. He tried to move his arms and legs and found them strapped down. He wiggled his torso. There were straps across that as well. He calmed himself telling himself that the doctor would be back soon to let him loose.

He listened to the footsteps moving down the hall. A door down the hall the otherway opened and he heard voices talking there.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Nothing for me. Make sure you bring some some snacks for Debbie though. The shop here is too expensive."

"Okay sweetie. Back soon."

The door closed and there were more footsteps in the corridor.

Harry would have blinked in amazement. How was he hearing voices that were obviously a good distance down the corridor?

The nurses footsteps met up with another pair of footsteps coming around a corner and began returning.

"Doctor. Harry's progress is amazing. I saw him shake his head slightly and he seems totally coherent. Knew his full name, asked which hospital."

Harry recognised the voice that answered as the American, "That's rather unexpected. The treatment shouldn't be showing results for at least another week. Would expect to see twitching of the fingers before anything else. The neck and back muscles should be the last to be repaired." The doctor seemed to be almost talking to himself.

Harry tentatively flexed his fingers, formed a fist, opened and closed his hands. They seemed to work fine. He tested the rest of his body and apart from being strapped down everything seemed to move just fine. He stilled himself as he the doctor and nurse opened the door.

The American doctor came up to beside Harry, "Hello Harry. How are you feeling."

Harry turned his head to face the voice, "Fine. Can you take these bandages off so I can see?"

The room was quiet as the doctor processed what he had just witnessed, "We can do that shortly Harry. I just have a few questions for you first if that's okay?"

The doctor started to ask Harry a few simple questions first about his name, age, address, guardians. Then he asked Harry to open and close his hands.

As Harry followed his instructions he heard three pairs of fast moving footsteps come around a corner into the corridor. One of the walked had the unmistakable sound of a wooden leg. Harry instantly pictured Professor Moody. His suspicion was confirmed when he heard the professors gruff voice as it neared his room.

"It's that one. There is a nurse and a doctor next to Harry. Remus you take case of the nurse and I'll take care of the doctor. Tonks you keep a watch on the corridor till we have Harry untied."

A voice Harry recognised as Professor Lupin's answered, "He's tied up?"

Moody whispered just outside the door, "Yeah, medical straps and he's also got bandages over his eyes. Now quiet. I'm going to open the door."

Harry wondered how Professor Moody knew that he was strapped down and had bandages for moment then mentally kicked himself when he remembered Professor Moody's magical eye. It could see through walls.

The doctor was just asking him turn his head when the door opened and Harry heard two identical sounding spells fly across the room. He could tell just be the sound that both had hit their targets. Professor Lupin was at their side a moment later helping them collapse gracefully to the floor.

Professor Lupin spoke first, "Harry it's Remus, we are here to get you out. Where are you hurt?"

Harry shook his head, "Professor Lupin. I'm so glad you are here. I'm not hurt at all. Whatever they did fixed my right up. Please untie me and take off this bandage so I can see."

"It's just Remus Harry. Mad-Eye how does his eyes look?"

Moody replied, "Look fine to me. I'll get the straps you do the bandages."

Harry smiled, "Professor Moody, it's good to see.. I mean hear you. Who else is with you?"

Moody growled, "Less of a professor than Remus here boy. Not as if I taught you anything. Nymphadora Tonks is also with us."

A young female voice came in through the open door, "Call me Tonks!"

It only took Lupin and Moody a few quick spells to free Harry from the restraints and bandages. The room was rather bright when Harry opened his eyes but after an involuntary blinking everything came quickly into focus.

Lupin started collecting Harry's clothing he spoke, "We'll just transfigure your gown for the moment. We want to get out of here as quickly as possible. Humm... I don't see your glasses Harry."

Harry started to look around for them as well before he suddenly realized that everything was in focus, "Umm... I don't think I need them anymore. I think they fixed my eyes."

Moody peered suspiciously at Harry for a moment, "Remus, are we sure this really is Harry? Don't want to be taking back an impersonator."

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Lupin asked.

"A stag, like Prongs." Harry replied with a smile.

Lupin nodded, "That's him."

As Lupin transfigured Harry's hospital gown to a pair of simple pants and a sweatshirt Moody revived the nurse and doctor and obliviated them both. Harry was surprised to realize that he could distinguish the spells by the very faint sound that accompanied their casting. Sounds that he had never even noticed before. A few confundus spells later Tonks was called into the room.

As the pretty young witch entered the room Harry was surprised to see her hair change from short plain brown to spiky and violet, "Wotcher, Harry!"

Noticing his surprise she smiled widely, "Metamorphmagus..."

She was about to explain more when Moody muttered, "No time. Let's go."

He grabbed Harry's arm and with a pop Harry felt himself being side-along apparated.

* * *

After watching a rather amazing piece of magic where number twelve, Grimmauld Place suddenly became visible to him he followed Lupin inside.

Tonks came in next and tripped on a large ugly umbrella stand inside the rundown hallway. As she began to topple Harry quickly stepped back to her and gentle caught her by the shoulders and righted her.

"Wow" she whispered, "I heard you had good reflexes but, wow."

Moody grunted in a low voice, "Move it. Let's get to the kitchen and get you checked out."

Inside the basement kitchen Sirius and Mrs Weasley arguing about Harry's sleeping arrangements. Harry had been listening to them well before they opened the door and entered.

"A room of my own sounds great Sirius", Harry grinned.

"Harry! Oh how wonderful you are here. We were so worried." A smiling Mrs Weasley engulfed him in a massive hug. He noticed she looked a lot thinner and paler than last time he had seen her. Also the hug no longer had the rib-cracking strength it used to have. "But you don't want a room for yourself. Ron's here as well and there are two beds."

Sirius was next to grab his hand and pull him into a much friendlier hug. "Looking good Harry. If you want your own room you'll have it. You can have my brothers. I've already tidied it up a bit for you."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Your brother's? This is your place?"

Sirius nodded ignoring a frowning Mrs Weasley, "Yep. Welcome to the oh so wonderful House of Black. Was my parent's when I grew up and now mine and headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix. Lovely place and I'm stuck here."

Mrs Weasley spoke up, "Well, how about we take you upstairs. Ron and Hermione are up there, have chat with them and think about where you want to sleep."

Harry frowned, his joy at seeing Sirius evaporating, "Hermione is here? How long she been here?"

Mrs Weasley didn't seem to notice Harry's sudden mood change as she ushered him towards the kitchen door, "Oh since the first week of the holidays. We decided it be safer for her to be here."

Harry stopped abruptly before leaving the kitchen and turned to Sirius, "Actually I think I'd prefer it if Sirius showed me to my room first thanks all the same."

Mrs Weasley looked a little pensive, "But surely Harry..."

"No thanks Mrs Weasley." Harry strode out of the Kitchen and waited for Sirius to join him as they walked up a few flights of stairs.

* * *

Sirius showed Harry to a rather comfortable bedroom just near Sirius's, "This was my brother, Regulus Arcturus Black's room. You are welcome for it as long as you like."

Harry smiled, "Thanks Sirius." He hesitated for a moment before asking, "So can you tell me what's going on."

Sirius smirked, "Well I am under strict instructions by Dumbledore to avoid telling you too much so..." he closed the door, "I'm rather pleased that he's not here to listen in on this conversation."

Harry smiled and sat down on his new bed.

Sirius plonked himself down beside him and began talking, "Well Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix soon after Voldemort's resurrection thanks to you and we have been working to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans."

"What exactly is the Order of the Phoenix and how do you know what his plans are?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded, "Well the Order is a Secret Society to resist Voldemort. It was founded by Dumbledore. I joined it during the first war against Voldemort as did you parents. Dumbledore is the one that works that out, that and Snape's reports."

Harry started, "Snape? He's in the order? What does he do?"

"Spies. Tells us that he has Voldemort thinking he's a double agent for him and then tells us the same. Dumbledore says to trust him and what he says he usually gets." Sirius give Harry a wink.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the thought of having anything more to do with his least favourite professor and decided to get back on track, "So do you know what his plans are?"

Sirius shrugged, "Voldemort is trying to build up his armies to their former numbers. More Death Eaters, Dark creatures whoever else he can convince trick or force to side with him. We trying to warn people but Fudge is still denying that he's back which is making it hard. That's why Voldemort is laying low at the moment. The longer that the Ministry and everyone else doesn't believe he's back the longer he can build his forces with minimal resistance."

"Why doesn't he believe Dumbledore?"

"Fudge thinks Dumbledore planning some sort of game to get him kicked out so Dumbledore can become the next Minister for Magic, total rubbish. But Fudge has never been known for his brains and he's got a lot of unpleasant people whispering in his ear, especially Malfoy."

"What have you been doing?"

Sirius voice got angry, "Nothing. Dumbledore continues to tell me that I have to remain here for my own safety. All I've been able to do is help clean this dump a bit. Wouldn't even let me leave to help look for you. So, your turn. What happened? We been looking for six weeks. Only discovered a week ago that you had been badly injured but you looking great. I know it's been awhile since I last saw you but that's one hell of a growth spurt."

"Well it really doesn't feel like six weeks to me. To me it was like it happened minutes ago. Was trying to get away from some of Dudley's friends and I thought they were going to throw something at me so I was looking at them and a car hit me. They did some sort of experimental operation in the hospital that must have worked cause I feel fine now. So why did it take so long to find me, didn't the Dursleys tell you where I was?"

Sirius shook his head, "We don't know where the Dursleys are. By the time we worked out you were missing they were gone. Had packed up all their stuff and left. Dumbledore had set up a guard on you but they obviously didn't watch you properly. There was also had a squib living in the area that Dumbledore had asked to watch you but she died before we had a chance to ask her if she had seen anyone."

Harry blinked, "Died?"

Sirius nodded, "We think it was Dementors but have no proof. They are meant to be under ministry control but with Voldemort back it could be he's started to order them around again. They might have scared off the Dursley's as well. But we are just guessing."

* * *

A knock at the door interrupted Harry's next question. Harry opened it to discover Madam Pomfrey and Lupin waiting outside. As soon as she saw him she took a step back and blinked.

"Harry! What happened to you?"

Harry shrugged, 'I was in an accident but I feel fine now. What's wrong."

Madam Pomfrey looked him and up and down, "You're a foot taller than when I last saw you. You were in half decent shape for the tournament but now, you look like a professional athlete."

Harry sent a questioning glance at Sirius who shrugged, "I haven't seen you for ages and I wasn't in my right mind when I last saw you. But I did say you looked good."

Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eye, "Dumbledore asked me to come and check up on you. You had me worried, I was told a week ago to be prepared to receive you at a moment's notice if they found you. Next I know Remus is on the Floor telling me you turned up fine. Now I concerned again, do you mind if I cast a few diagnostic spells?"

Harry shook his head and sat back down on the bed and waited as Madam Pomfrey cast a number of spells shaking her head occasionally as she examined the resulting auras. Harry was surprised to see that the auras were much more complex than he had noticed before. Each spell caused his body to glow as per what he had seen before his now he could see that the glow contained minute changes of colours and density.

"Well according to all my spells you are in perfect health and when I saw perfect I mean it. I've never seen anyone it quite as peak condition as you. If I didn't know better I would have said that you must have just come off a full six month rejuvenation regime of potions and healing spells. But if that was the case then your mind would still be scrambled as it takes months for you to adapt to such changes. What can you tell me about what happened since last I saw you?"

Harry proceeded to retell his story. He interrupted himself to ask Lupin to close the door when he heard Mrs Weasley tell Ron and Hermione that he was upstairs and them start up. Harry was already coming to grips that his hearing had been supercharged but he didn't want to get into that so he didn't mention that.

Madam Pomfrey left, promising to do some more research to try and work out what could have caused such a change so quickly. Sirius and Remus also let him alone so he could get unpack the trunk that Sirius's quickly returned with. Remus also dropped off the stuff that he had retrieved from the hospital which Harry was happy to see included his wand.

Harry then took the opportunity to check himself out in a mirror for the first time and he finally noticed that indeed he looked rather different. The lack of glasses he noticed first and guessed that they probably got lost during the accident. He didn't really feel taller but then he had nothing that familiar to compare himself to. Mrs Weasley was a lot shorter than he remembered but that was always the case since he didn't see her that often.

* * *

He heard Ron and Hermione coming up the stairs again to try and chat to him again. He had called through the door earlier to come back later as he was undressed. This time he actually made an effort to change his clothes and discovered that everything he owned was indeed way too short. Dudley's cast offs were too wide but also too short. In the end he went back to wearing the transfigured clothing that Remus provided him and hoping that the charm would last a lot longer.

"Harry? Can we come in?" Hermione's hesitant voice came through the door.

Harry sighed and opened the door.

"Merlin Harry. When did you get taller me?" Ron was shocked.

Harry shrugged, "Side effect of whatever the muggle doctors did to heal me after the car accident."

Hermione stood there speechless for a moment before rushing forward to hug him, "Oh Harry I was so worried about you. How did you get so tall and fit? What did they do to you? Everyone's been looking for you for ages. Why didn't you let us know where you were? We were all so worried!"

Harry's face closed down, "Hermione. I was in a hospital. I didn't have anyway of letting anyone know where I was and even if I did I'm not sure I would have bothered anyhow. It's not like anyone was answering any of my questions."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Come on Harry. We wanted to tell you what was going on but Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't. There's no need to be like that."

Harry didn't blink, "Oh, so he used the Imperious on you to make you swear did he? I didn't think that worked."

Hermione shook her head, "No Harry it wasn't like that, but he's the headmaster and the head of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Oh, so you members of the Order now?"

"No of course not, only adults are allowed to be members. But he.."

Harry sorted, "You know what. I really don't want to know what he said or wants anymore. I could have been here as well but instead he sends me back to my abusive Uncle and Aunt whilst you hang out here having a jolly fine time without even letting me know you are together and don't go telling me that's something important to the security of the Order of the bloody Phoenix."

Both Ron and Hermione opened their mouths to speak but Harry just closed his eyes and stepped between them and out of his room leaving them behind as he quickly strode downstairs. He went straight to the kitchen where Remus, Sirius and Tonks were chatting.

* * *

"I'm going shopping for some new clothes. Can someone apparate me to a shopping centre?"

Remus spoke up, "I don't think that's a good idea Harry. Dumble..."

Harry interrupted him, "Remus, do not mention his name in front of me right now. Look if no one apparates me then I'm going out the front door right now. If you worried about security then cast a glamour on me before we go."

Sirius grinned, "Want some company Harry?"

Harry smiled, "Hell yeah. Can you change my hair and eye colour?"

Remus sighed as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry can't we wait till.."

"No. Do you have any muggle money Sirius?" Harry just ignored the hand.

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, let me grab it. I can also teach you how to cast your own glamours."

Harry shrugged, "Not so useful if I can't cast them except at school."

Sirius led the way out of the room and Harry followed. Remus was forced to let go of his shoulder before he and Tonks trailed behind them. Sirius spoke over Remus warnings, "This house is very well warded. Ministry can't detect magic cast within. You can cast whatever you like whilst you are in the house."

Harry beamed as he dodged past Ron and Hermione who tried to intercept him.

"Harry please.. ", "Harry can't we just.."

Harry turned them out as he followed Sirius up to a bedroom very similar to his own. He closed the door behind him and waited as Sirius pulled out a few rolls of muggle money.

Harry raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Sirius smirked, "From a rather rich family and I liked getting out on the town magic and muggle."

As Sirius cast a few glamours Harry paid careful attention to the movements and words and to the sound of Remus banging on the door asking them to come out and talk about this Sirius grabbed Harry's arm and apparated away.

* * *

**Author Notes: **Humm.. this story's started down a little more of a serious track than I planned. If I do continue it I'll make Harry becomes even more irreverent and playful as he learns more of his powers. I don't think I'll be getting involved in any serious bashing but other characters are unlikely to get that much screen time as the story goes on.


	7. Aspirant Harry Potter

_AN: I've added a list of summaries for each story at the beginning of Chapter 1._

_.._

..

* * *

**Aspirant Harry Potter**

* * *

_Harry Potter whilst fighting through a period of depression after the death of his godfather chances upon the book 'Space Marine'. He decides to use it an inspiration in an effort to help him go down fighting and hopefully take his enemies down with him._

* * *

Harry slouched on the comfortable chair. His head lolling on its side as he stared at the ceiling a book half forgotten hanging from his limp left hand. He could feel the presence of the book but he couldn't even remember the title or what it was about now. His mind was a long way away in a building far below the ground. He watched his friends falling Ginny white faced and unable to walk, Neville his face covered in blood, Ron thrashing as he suffocated, Luna crashing into a desk and sliding out of sight and Hermione. Hermione laying still on the floor. Then he watched Sirius falling backwards and out of sight. He regretted not following Sirius in.

He remembered the pain as Voldemort fought for control of his body, then again he wished he had died. Dumbledore could have killed him and maybe taken Voldemort out at the same time. That would have been preferable to learning all that Dumbledore had been keeping from him. Secrets that had led Sirius' death. Secrets that had led to his friends almost being killed. Secrets. So many secrets. Just how many other secrets was Dumbledore keeping from him.

Harry wanted to die but the idea of suicide just felt wrong. He wish he could have died in the battle. Died fighting Voldemort. Died taking him down.

His eyes flickered to the skylight. It was still bright and he didn't want to go back to his uncle and aunt's house yet. Whilst they hadn't been as nasty as previous summers he still wanted nothing to do with them. He had no pleasant memories with them. So he continued to stare at the wall and his mind started wandering back to the Ministry of Magic.

He grunted and glanced at the book he was holding. Some magical story about some kids. He dropped it on the table. He didn't want anything that reminded him of anything. He walked over to the trolley of unsorted books and picked up the first thing that looked like non magical fiction. Space Marine.

Surprisingly Harry found it an engrossing read. Here was a boy, in a shitty situation with shitty options taking matters into his own hands. Joining up with strong powerful soldiers to fight a real war against a real enemy. There was no pussy footing around. These people meant business. The bad guys didn't get slap on their wrists and sent to the room. No bullets and blades took care of them and they didn't get up.

Harry's gaze returned to the ceiling as his mind considered what he knew about the military forces. Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Forces. There were options but he couldn't imagine that any could provide him an escape from his current life. He was pretty sure you needed to be older and how could they prevent Dumbledore or his minions just coming and collecting him. It was a sad fact that the only military force that could have been effective was under the control of the Ministry of Magic. He had once thought an Auror would be a good job for him but seeing who they reported to it no longer seemed a great choice.

Sighing he tried to lose himself in the book once more. Too soon he was nearing the end of the last chapter. Lex was alone. Just as Harry was alone. Harry was a little shocked when he read how Lexandro stripped the flesh from his own hand and carved names into his own bone. That was true dedication. Harry stared at his own hand and imagined the bones within it. Could he do such a thing? What would he carve on his bones if he did? Maybe the names of his parents and Sirius. Maybe the answers to a test. Though it'd be kinda hard to check them. Harry grinned at that crazy little thought. Maybe some of those runes Hermione was always going on about. Harry thoughts froze. Was that possible?

He remembered Bill talking about egyptian rune traps that exploded. Maybe he could write those on his bones and when Voldemort finally came for him Harry could blow them all up in a massive fireball that would make a Space Marine proud. Then he could finally be with his parents and Sirius and no one could say he was a coward. He could do his so called duty to the wizarding world and be rid of it all in one glorious finale. He could take them all with him. Voldemort, Pettigrew, Bellatrix, Malfoy, Macnair, Nott, all of them.

He cursed quietly. Why hadn't he taken Runes with Hermione instead of Divination. Because of Ron that was why. Because Ron wanted to do whatever was easiest. Well it was too late to start learning Runes now. He'd just have to make do with whatever he could find in books. Hogwarts would have to wait till September but that was still three months away. Diagon Alley might be a okay though he wondered what kind of books he could get at Flourish and Blotts, Bill had said something about how the best Runes were not publicly known. Knockturn Alley would probably be better but he still would have to get there and it wasn't like he wouldn't be instantly noticed. He remembered Sirius talking about all the dark books in the Black Library. He hoped the Order hadn't taken them all. Maybe Kreacher had managed to stop them. Harry narrowed his eyes. Could Kreacher help him. Sirius had told the elf to do what Harry told him. Would that still hold true after Sirius had died? Only one way to find out.

Harry checked out the book. He had finished it but maybe he could read it again as a distraction.

He walked around the Library and into the darkest part of the carpark. He wasn't looking forward to this. Kreacher was partly responsible for the death of his godfather. Harry gritted his teeth. Hopefully he could arrange it so that he could take it out with him as well.

"Kreacher."

There was a loud crack and Kreacher appeared. He was still dressed in filthy rags and was no less filthy himself.

The house elf opened his mouth but Harry was ready as he didn't want to make too much noise.

"Quiet Kreacher."

The house-elf shut his mouth and his hands shoot up to grasp his throat. It was like he was fighting himself to try to not talk and to talk at the same time. It was rather off putting.

"Stop that carry on. Can't you act properly?"

Kreacher seemed to shake for a moment before with what seemed like a great effort he stood up straight and bowed to Harry. In an almost whisper he uttered, "Yes Master. What is your wish?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, "Why did you call me Master Kreacher?"

Kreacher screwed up his face and grimaced but still answered, "My old master left Harry Potter everything he owned. When the will was read you became my Master."

Harry blinked and quickly lowered himself to sit on the cold cement before he fell over. Sirius had left him everything including Kreacher. Did that include Grimmauld Place and the Black Library? Why on earth didn't Dumbledore tell him and when was the will read?

"Kreacher, when was Sirius's will read?"

Kreacher blinked once, "A week ago Master."

Harry swore lightly, "and do you know who was there?"

Kreacher nodded, "Albus Dumbledore, Narcissa Black, Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin, Master."

"Those buggers, and they didn't even tell me. So does that mean I own Grimmauld Place?"

Kreacher nodded, "Yes Master."

"Can you take me there?"

Kreacher nodded, "Yes Master. Though I can only take you to the front door as you need to make yourself known to the wards as they went into lockdown when Sirius died."

Harry thought about that for a moment trying to work out if there was any reason why he couldn't just live there. Finally he decided to just ask Kreacher, "Is there any reason why I can't live there? Can anyone else enter the place?"

Kreacher shook his head, "Not that I know of Master. No one but you and those you give permission to can enter."

"Right. I am going back to my relatives. I want you to take all my belongings from there to Grimmauld place and I want you to look after them properly. I want nothing damaged, lost or otherwise treated improperly. Then once I have said my goodbyes I want you to take me away. But I don't want anyone to see you or know that you have been there. Can you do that?"

After Kreacher nodded Harry had the house elf take him back to his room. Kreacher instantly started packing all his belongings into his trunk. Harry watched suspiciously but for some reason Kreacher seemed to be acting almost normally now. Only after a few minutes Kreacher had vanished and his room looked the most empty it had ever done. Hoping that he would find all his belongings in good order he thought about what he story he would tell his relatives. He knew it wouldn't take long for whatever he told them to reach Dumbledore's ears so it had to be good.

After a while he decided he really didn't want to see them again so instead he quietly went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen before retreating back to his room.

..

_Dear Uncle Vernon / Aunt Petunia,_

_I have discovered that I have a distant cousin who lives in Germany. He is keen to meet me and has offered me a place to stay for the next few weeks. As I am hoping that I will be able to stay with my friends after my return I have packed all my belongings and will be taking them with me. He has provided transport of the type you do not like so I will leave the house before I use it._

_As always I will stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter breaks and I will not require you to take me to the train on the 1st of September so the next we will see each other will be at the end of the next school year unless I can make alternate arrangements._

_Regards,  
Harry J. Potter_

_.._

Harry looked down at the letter with satisfaction. He thought there was enough misleading clues there to at least put them off the trail for a while.

"Kreacher."

There was the faintest of pops before Kreacher appeared. Harry's mouth dropped open. Kreacher was now wearing a simple grey toga and had seemingly been in the process of cleaning himself as about half his face was mostly free of dirt.

"What is you wish, Master?"

"That's much better Kreacher. Why were you so dirty before?"

"Old Master told me to obey old Mistress's painting. She told me that I shouldn't look better than the house and that I was not to clean the house whilst her traitor son was still alive."

Harry shook his head, "Well as your new master I command you that you are not to obey anyone's command's but my own."

Kreacher bowed his head, "Yes Master. Do you wish me to take you to your Grimmauld house now?"

This also gave Harry pause, "I have more than one house?"

Kreacher nodded, "Yes Master. Old Master owned a number of properties and I believe that you also owned a number of properties."

Harry shook himself. This was a day of revelations, "Okay. I'll ask you about them later but for right now please take me to Grimmauld Place."

With a nod Kreacher took hold of Harry's arm and with a pop they were gone.

* * *

Harry appeared on the front door step of Grimmauld Place at a slight angle and almost fell but Kreacher's grip on his arm tightened fractional and pulled him back upright. For all that he was small and rather old Kreature still had a lot of strength in his hands and arms.

"Thanks Kreacher"

Kreacher bowed his head and pointed at the middle of the door as he handed Harry a sharp little knife, "Master, you need to cut you wand hand and then place it there, then declare your name and that you now own this building. It'll pull magic from you to help power the wards. Pull your hand back when you have given as much as you want."

Harry barely noticed the pain as he cut his palm open, "The more magic the strong right?"

Kreacher nodded, "Yes Master"

Harry placed his bloodied hand on the middle of the door. It felt very cold against his wet hand.

"I Harry James Potter declare that this building now belongs to me." It wasn't quite the right wording but it seemed to work.

Harry felt a wave of strong magic wash over him. He felt as if a door had been opened up in this mind. He was connected to the whole house and could feel each room and each ward protecting the house. He could also feel the fidelius surrounding and protecting the house. He had a sense that it might be possible to break it at this point but he had no intention of trying. Doing so would likely let Dumbledore know he was there and it wasn't as if they could enter the property. Any additional protection was welcome. Harry chose to leave almost all the lockdown wards in place. No floo. No portkeys. No apparition from inside, though he did allow apparitions to the backyard and allowed house elf teleportation though restricted it to Kreacher only. He momentarily thought of Dobby but who knew what spells or control Dumbledore now had on his little friend.

He had barely finished removing all the names from the access list, except his, when the feel of the magic changed. The tide had shifted and magic was now flowing from him. He could feel the wards strengthening and his magic added to them. He could also feel the contributions from past Blacks. Sirius had only been able to add a small amount, likely still weakened by his stay in Azkaban. Harry shook himself as he tried not to dwell on the harsh hand his godfather had been dealt. He could also feel other contributions though he was unable to out names to the individual contributors. There magic was fading. Overall the wards were the weakest they had been since the house was first built and still fading so Harry let the magic flow out as fast as the house wanted. He could feel charms built into the house reenergise as his magic touched them. He felt the connection that gave strength to Kreacher and though he didn't trust the house elf he did need him so he let more magic flow along that connection. He started feeling a little faint but knew instinctively that the magic he gave the house today was the most important so he endured and continued to let the magic flow. He remembered casting the Patronus to save Sirius and decided he would put no less into avenging him and he gritted his teeth as pain started to replace the faintness, he now was helping to push magic into the house. He heard a small voice calling from a long way away. Was that Sirius? No Sirius would not call him master. It was Kreacher. He pulled his hand off the door and looked down at the elf. He wanted to ask what the elf wanted but everything was fading away and he was falling.

He woke groggily to a small hand pushing a vial into his hand. "You need to drink this Master."

Harry automatically took it and lifted it to his lips. Then paused. A small question hanging in the air. He felt himself fading again but forced himself to ask, "Is it safe?"

Kreacher's voice came from far away, "Yes Master. It's safe to drink. You need it." The small hand helped Harry move the vial to his lips. Harry drank and everything faded away again.

The next time Harry awoke there was another vial. Harry didn't ask about it. He just drank it and went back to sleep. This happened two more times before Harry was able to wake properly and sit up.

"What happened?"

"Master gave too much magic. You were unwell. I gave you nutritional potions so you didn't need water and food but you are still not well. You can get up but shouldn't use magic yet."

Harry groaned as he forced his protesting legs to swing off the bed, "How long?"

Kreacher looked at the floor, "Sorry Master. I do not know. I can tell when you magic has recovered but not how long till."

Harry sighed, "No matter. I need to do research first anyhow. Starting with learning everything I can about runes, bones and healing. Any ideas Kreacher?"

Kreacher nodded, "Yes Master. I can show you how old old master used to do research. But would Young Master like to eat first?"

* * *

Harry discovered he had been unconscious for two days but Kreacher had been far from idle during that time. The Weasleys and the Order had put in a good effort cleaning the house but it was nothing compared to what Kreacher had achieved in the last two days. The place looked brand new. The colours were the same but the lighting was bright enough that it wasn't depressing any more. Harry discovered that Kreacher had moved all the items that he didn't think Harry would approve of to a pair of spare rooms. Harry was glad to see the portrait of Sirius's mother was one of those things moved. It was replaced by a picture of a wind blown castle standing tall above a dark sea.

Kreacher had also introduced him to the master study which he had filled with portraits of past Blacks. Harry found the idea of having a bunch of dead people provide advice on runes a tad strange but it was effective.

He had a plan now. The explosive rune idea was progressing very slowly but after having Kreature purchase everything he could find related to Space Marines, how Kreacher had purchased muggle books Harry didn't want to ask, Harry was able to put together a list of changes Aspirants to the marines had to go through to become battle ready.

His list of 17 rune schemes hadn't been as hard to create as he thought. He knew that realistically he should be checking each rune scheme with arithmancy and all sorts of rules but he had neither the time nor knowledge to do so. So he had taken the best sounding translations and runes from the advice the portraits had given and the books from the Black library and called them done. The more cautious portraits had taken great offense at his Gryffindorish behavior.

As for the plan to strip the flesh and then regrow it he was quickly shot down. But eventually, and surprisingly with Kreachers help Harry had discovered and decided to go with ahead with a method using the switching spell, marbles transfigured into bones and a large supply of healing potions.

The procedure was to numb the body part using charms, use switching spell to replace the bone with a transfigured copy, engrave the runes on the bone, switch it back, drink the healing potions and then spend a few hours in agony as the body adjusted to having a bone torn from it and then replaced. Sadly for the healing part no numbing charm or pain reducing potion would work due to the addition of the runes and the need for the healing potions to properly reattach the bone.

* * *

Harry stood in his study carefully reviewing the first of the bones he would engrave. Over and over he had engraved them into transfigured bone until he was confident he could engrave them properly. Sadly he still barely understood the full meanings though the translations at least sounded right.

He looked over the full size skeleton with all the runes engraved. It was strange looking at your own skeleton or at least a perfect replica. Every large bone had at minimum four rune schemes added to it. At least some groups of smaller bones he could do together. How long if would take to do every single bone individually Harry didn't even want to guess.

He had decided to start with his left hand determining that if things went wrong it was the least critical body part.

For his hand bones he had chosen four rune schemes he had named after the Warhammer implants he had based them on, Ossmodula; to increase bone strength, Biscopea; to increase muscle strength, Melanchrome; to protect and toughen skin, and finally Mucranoid; to protect against extremes of heat and cold.

In all twenty three runes per bone or bone group. A total of one hundred and sixty three runes for just one hand. His best practice run had him do them in just under four minutes though he expected that the actual time it would take much longer as it would include time charging the runes.

Kreacher had helped Harry convert one of the many bedrooms to a room suitable for the procedure. A hundred potions, most purchased already premade from Diagon alley by Kreacher. Some from those the order and a few he had made especially, were shelved neaby. Harry's inscribed skeleton stood nearby as did pages of notes and relevant books. On a draftsman's easel stood large copies of the runes he needed. A desk and comfortable chair stood ready for the actual engraving and a bed close by for recovery.

Harry had already prepared the transfigured copies of his hand bones a few days ago and they sat resting in a dish of weak stasis potion on the desk. He took a deep breath, triple checked his enchanted engraving blade and then cast the numbing charm. After confirming that the numbing spell had taken he cast the switching spell. Even though he expected it he was surprised that he didn't feel anything when the pure white bones were replaced with real bones. He blinked a few times till he convinced himself that he really was looking at bones that a moment ago were in his left hand. Then he got to work.

Harry was grateful that Kreacher kept the glass of chilled water topped up. The room wasn't hot but inscribing and charging even a dozen runes was sweaty work. By the time he hit fifty runes Kreacher had started mopping his forehead with a damp cloth. After a hundred Kreacher provided a half strength pepper up potion. Where he had finished and cast the final switching spell Kreacher had to almost carry Harry to the bed before feeding him the prepared healing potions. It was seconds later that the pain began. It wasn't as bad as skele-gro and Harry soon fell asleep to dream of countless runes.

Hunger woke him up and within a few minutes he was eating a massive breakfast prepared by Kreacher. Once Harry had taught Kreacher what he liked there had been no stopping the house elf from experimenting and improving on the recipes. By midday Harry was keen to start the next limb but was forcing himself to wait till he could tell if the runes he had carved were successful.

It was the following evening when he was finally sure that nothing terrible had happened. The hand felt fine. Was definitely stronger and more resistant to knife cuts. Harry didn't know how to test it anymore than that and was already impatient so moved onto his feet. This time he decided to do both together since he was only doing half the total runes per foot. This set took less time and he also didn't wait as long till he moved onto his limbs. Bravely, or foolishly, he undertook doing both legs and left arm in one go. They took a little longer since the runes were larger but very little extra power. Larger bones were easier to charge with than lots of small bones. Recovery however took longer. Harry was out of action for three days after that set. Still he was satisfied that nothing overt had gone wrong.

It was during that time that he decided that he would do his skull and backbone in multiple stages. He would do the same four sets of runes everywhere before he moved on to the more advanced runes. Again this happened without complication.

Harry took a few days after the last recovery period to sit back and relax. He could feel and see changes now. He wasn't just stronger. He was getting bigger and he couldn't work out why. He expected the bones to get thicker but not longer. Then again most of the runes he used could be translated in any number of ways. He once again regretted not taking arithmancy at Hogwarts.

Still not detecting anything untoward apart from the remnants of a massive headache Harry prepared for his most ambitious task yet. Inscribing his backbone with all new runes. He had already inscribed Ossmodula, Biscopea, Melanchrome and Mucranoid. Now it was time to add six more: Heart; to strengthen and enlarge his heart. Sadly he couldn't work out a rune scheme to add in an actual second heart. Heamastamen; to improve his blood, Larraman; to allow his body to heal quicker, Preomnor; to help digestion and protect against ingested poisons, Omophagea; to learn from eating, Harry had a lot of trouble working out the exact meaning of this one and was least sure of what it would actually do, Multi-lung; to allow him to breath poison or water, and Oolitic; poison immunity. Each rune would be only inscribed once but would require a lot more individual power to charge and most consisted of over twenty individual runes.

By this time Harry had thought he had got quite used to the whole procedure and recovery. However he was totally unprepared for a day and a half of high fevers, throwing up, shaking and shivering that he experienced. He shook so much that Kreacher had to take him and the mattress of the bed and put it on the ground to prevent him hurting himself when he bounced himself off the mattress. Once he had recovered enough to eat he did notice a difference in that he had faint and strange sensations from each meal. However he couldn't detect any other change from the new runes. Still his body had continued to grow and strengthen. He was now at least a foot taller than he had been. He hadn't paid attention to his height before but now he was six foot six, still growing and built as solidly as anyone he had ever met. Harry was rather pleased he hadn't actually needed to do any exercise to get his rather impressive figure. His only concern was that it was way too noticeable that he had changed.

Harry took another day off inscribing runes and returned to his normal alternative activity which was studying and practising curses and jinxes. He had decided what he really needed was a dozen or so curses that he could cast fast and hard and were hard to defence against and so he was working on a short list that he practices over and over again.

After a lovely pizza, the new latest addition to Kreature's repertoire, Harry sat down for his last planned procedure. To add the skull specific runes. Catalepsean; to reduce his need for sleep, Occulobe; to improve vision and see in the dark, Lyman; to improve balance and improve hearing, Sus-an; to allow hibernation and stasis, suspended animation didn't seem to translate to runes so he went with the next closest thing, Neuroglottis; to improve taste,

As he lay in bed reading and recovering from the latest operation his mind recalled his shouting conversation with Dumbledore only two months ago. He remembered yelling how he didn't want to be human. He guessed he was well on his way to fulfilling that desire. His growth was slowing but he fully expected to be seven foot by the time it finished. At least he wasn't planning to go back to Hogwarts. There must be another way to track down the death eaters than hang around at school waiting for them to strike. He just had to work out what it was.

* * *

_Well that's the basis of the plot bunny down. Definitely a lot longer than what I thought it would be. Where would it go from here? Well next would be the creation of a glamour rune to get him by at school as in the end Hogwarts is the only place that Harry really knows. Harry would start doing major damage to the death eaters and like minded individuals in the school depending on Dumbledore's always give them a second chance to get by the few times he's the prime suspect._

_Next would be the creation of the armour. Powered by runes, able to take a pile of damage and pretty much able to ignore the unforgivables but still partially vulnerable to blasting curses and the like. Picture a space marine wielding a glowing magical blade and wielding a staff which is flinging out cutting and blasting curses going up against trolls, giants, vampires and the like. Lots of dark creatures._

_Then on to recruiting and bringing others into the fold. Only a few would have the correct mind set. Probably only Neville and Dean from his year and then a bunch of younger halfbloods and muggleborns. Oaths to the order based on what Harry thinks should be the goal of the marines. Where the girls fit I'm not sure. There is no reason why the runes wouldn't work on them if they so chose._

_Source for implants wh40 klexicanum com/wiki/Creation_of_a_Space_Marine_


	8. griffonprivettower

_In a dark sky a dirty great motorbike skidded on nothing, turning too fast as it exited a gleaming silver tower. The tower stretched hundreds of stories into the sky and the reflection of the bike the only stain on the otherwise polished perfection. The massive trench coat worn by the rider whipped behind the bike snapping loudly at the air. A stylised bird seems to shine out from amongst the dirt that covered the rest of the large fuel tank. The impossible black skid marks the wheels left in the air faded away as the bike left the tower behind._

_Soon the dark ground became an ugly gridwork of grimy squat buildings, each the same and each pouring dark smoke into the sky through a dozen stacks. The smoke visible only because of the way it occluded the hundreds of sickly green lights that littered the roofs of the buildings. The motorbike roared as it passed overhead building after building. _

_Later the the bike approached a dozens tall gaunt buildings that rose out of that gridwork like dirty giant smokestacks. An industrial grove amongst industrial bushes. In the distance other similar groves of buildings became visible. As the bike entered the grove the towers looming close on either side of the roaring bike. Something shifted and now behind a gleaming band of light was visible stretching halfway across the horizon. Somewhere amongst that band was the silver tower of perfection. So far away now._

_Another shift and the wall of one of the towers was looming straight ahead. The bike heading right towards the solid unforgiving wall of metal pipes, glimpses of the old colour codes barely visible amongst the encrusted grime. The motorbike doesn't turn and doesn't slow it heads straight into the wall and everything goes black. _

* * *

Griffon started awake to a harsh beeping. The dream is not unfamiliar to him. Generally he's very happy to revisit it but he barely manages not to swear as he realizes where he is. A hallway of uniform filing cabinets stretches ahead and behind him. Mentally cursing himself. He knows it's very dangerous to fall asleep in the open like that. After chiding himself he returns his attention to the open cabinet beside him. He works quickly and soon finishes the sorting, collating and searching of the files.

Checking his timepiece he determines that there is still enough time for a quick run before dinner. Secure that he is currently unobserved he moves as quickly to the filing cabinet that he calls his own. It's not really. It looks like the rest. It even contains the same type of information like the rest. It's already been sorted and if anything is maybe just a little more average than the rest. However not the most average, he's been careful to avoid that. That could be just as bad.

He quickly scans through the files until he finds the one he wants. Nothing special about it either. In fact he selected it randomly after excluding any of the more interesting files. He reads it backwards three times. Once forward. Then scans though it skipping every second word.

If there had been any observers they would have just seen him stay crouched in front of the cabinet looking and sorting through the files within. To him however the cabinet broke apart in a storm of random pixels. For a brief moment it was just noise before they resolved into a tunnel speeding past that expanded outwards to envelope him. There was a moment of disorientation as he adjusted to the new motion. He hadn't yet worked out a way of transitioning from the corridor to the speeding tunnel that felt right without leaving his boy avatar spinning or frozen.

As he sped along the tunnel he called up a data window that showed his status as well as his current image. He grinned as he looked at his new avatar. It was similar to the griffon from the motorbike dream but closer to images he had found in the free domain. Rule one in protecting your identity in the free domain was making sure nothing you broadcast connected to your reality. In fact even having using an image related to his dream would be considered a big no no. However on the other hand that rule was so well known that no one would expect there to even be a connection.

The motion in the tunnel slowed and the blurred coloured noise dissolved into a simple metallic chute. A reminder that he was entering shared code. With a roar the Griffon leapt from the chute and landed in a crouch. The roar was actually that of a lion pitch shifted slightly. It caught the attention of a few people nearby. Their simplistic avatars sending simple identity queries before they quickly continued on their way. Regular folk just looking for a little escape from boredom on the borders of illegality. They didn't want to tangle with anyone who was willing to put in the effort to create a custom avatar of such complexity.

He strode across the promenade towards a tower of chat rooms hoping to find some of his net friends only to be disappointed when he found their chat room archived. He triggered his anger animation and was amused to see a few more avatars flinch away. Simplistic defences triggering as if they thought that would slow him down any if he was so inclined. Even a casual scan was enough to tell that none of them would be a challenge.

After a moment's indecision he decided he would spend his few spare minutes browsing the public library of motion tracks. Maybe find some alternate running animations for his avatar. His library was already extensive but nothing beat the feeling when he was complimented on his avatar. Even the shying away by the regulars was a compliment in a way.

He was running a few test blends on some animal motion captures when three of his proximity alerts triggered, they were near instantly followed by four identity query alerts. The mocaps were instantly forgotten and he was fleeing. Only within the most secure zones had he let any of his friends get within two alerts of his avatar during their play fights. That something had got through three alerts at the same time was unheard of. He would have said impossible but he now knew that that wasn't the case. Being hit with four queries at the same time indicated that there was at least two of them.

He had crossed three promenades, transferred across two sub domains and had shifted his avatar four times as he had entered random chat rooms before he slowed down and begun resetting his alerts. By the time he had reset all the alerts he had crossed another promenade and another sub domain and looked and responded to simple id's as just another middle aged planthouse worker looking for an illicit fling.

He waited till he had mere seconds left before he returned to his tunnel and sped back to his home network. On the way back he reviewed all the data from the encounter again and again. Whoever it was they were mightily impressive. He almost wished he had waited a little longer to capture the avatar image from more angles. He had all but given up on trying to create the illusion of flight within the free domain and yet he now had the recorded the image of an elegant owl hovering. It wasn't even hovering in front of a blank wall. Underneath it he could see dataflows, other avatars and structures. The illusion of flight stayed true as the record showed it turning to watch as he sped off. It hadn't bothered to follow and he couldn't even work out what data it's queries had pulled. Another worry.

He stared at the frozen frame trying to imagine how it could possibly have been coded when the owl swiveled in's head to look at him, it winked and vanished. If Harry could have choked or gasped he would have. Still frames didn't change. He replayed the clip but there was no owl. No anything. He checked the time stamps, the checksums, run everything image checking program he had and everything reported it was an untouched recording. Yet he had no doubt there had been an owl. And now there wasn't. It was all too confusing.

When he reached the termination of his tunnel he triggered a two day full closure and concealment of that particular network connection.

He collected and forwarding the efforts of his earlier data mining before making his way to the network exit and logged out.

_-griffon-_

The boy blinked dry eyelids as the bright light of cheap roof squares seared his vision. He moaned softly as he wrenched his head out of the ill fitting helmet. As he left the cubicle he glanced with longing at the three other cubicles and the lounges within, each lit softly, cushioned and with auto adjusting neural helmets. As he tried to beat blood back into his limbs he once again wished that he had something to offer for the chance to work from one of those temperature regulating, muscle stimulating, massaging and stretching lounges. The Durseys barely used them for a couple of hours a day each and yet he had to sit on his threadbare couch with broken springs for twelve to fourteen hours a day.

He staggered out of the room and into the hall that connected each of the rooms together.

"Boy, eat your food quickly and get out of sight. We have a visitor coming up and if they ring the bell before you finished you can forget it."

"Yes Mr Dursley."

The boy wasted no time, he barely got enough to survive per day and missing a meal would be a disaster. As always there was half a survival ration pack sitting on a paper plate waiting for him. He pulled out his plastic spoon from his pocket and started shoveling it down. He knew his manners were appalling but he didn't think they were much worse than the Dursleys. He had seen vids of how to eat properly, he certainly hadn't seen examples of anything like that around them.

He had just shovelled the last of the ration pack into his mouth when the door chimed. Dropping the paper plate into the bin on the way past he rushed to his sleeping pod. If it wasn't half full of storage boxes it could have been rather comfortable. He wiggled on to the thin blanket that served as a mattress on top of the boxes. Dudley closed the pod door behind him with a kick then started typing on the access panel.

"He's in Dad. Locked and..."

Dudley Dursley's voice was cut off as the noise cancellation activated. The boy wasted no time in wiggling his body back a little so he could kick the privacy curtain closed behind him. The window in the door was permanently darkened so it didn't actually change anything but it did allow him a few more seconds if they opened the door without warning.

He then wiggled deeper into the pod so he could access the monitor there. It had been hard work to rearrange the boxes so he could peer down at it. It had been much easier to hack the home network and re enable it and make sure it still showed at deactivated and unused. He flicked the on switch and typed in his code on the keyboard after a millisecond where his program checked that the door was closed and the code was correct the screen came alive. A few key strokes and he was looking through the security cameras in the apartment.

Vernon was in the main hall looking at the image of the man in the entrance room. His mouth was hanging open and when the boy glanced at the same image he could understand way. The visitor was huge. He had to bend over so his head didn't hit the roof. He must of half crawled through the door to get in this far. He was so big that apart from the massive beard he could have easily passed as an slightly oversized gene boosted soldier in civs. Not that those soldiers were even able to remove their power armour and were incapable of growing body hair.

Vernon triggered the weapon scanner again and continued to speak into the intercom.

A minute passed and the figure seemed to be getting irritated. The boy wished he could get audio through the link but the door intercom was an old direct connection model and the cameras throughout the house were video only.

He watched amused as the figure thudded on the door. He must have hit it hard as Vernon actually stumbled back a few steps within. Impressive since both the inner and outer entrance room doors were the standard enviro reinforced versions used throughout the tower.

Vernon and the giant exchanged a few more yelled words before the giant slammed his hands against the door once more. The boy's mouth dropped open in astonishment as the door slid open. Vernon half fell, stumbled, caught himself and dashed into his study.

The huge man crouched and entered the hall and paused looking around.

The boy gasped as he saw the giant just stand still and look at the picture screens on the wall. Knowing it was no good he still yelled, "Don't just stand there. He's gone to get his gun."

He watched in stupefied astonishment as the giant seemed to look towards his cubicle door and nod. As if he had heard him through the soundproofing and noise cancellation. Mentally kicking himself for not thinking of it earlier the boy scrambled to try and cancel the noise cancellation on his sleeping pod. However he quickly realised that he would have to rewrite the program to deactivate his monitor since it was also triggered by the noise cancellation being deactivated. He swore as he realised he didn't have time.

The giant turned to watch as Vernon came back out of his study wielding his semi automatic shotgun. The boy wanted to close his eyes, he had seen vids of death before but this was about to happen just meters away but he just couldn't. So he was rather surprised when the giant casually pulled the gun out of Vernon's hands and bent it like it was shower hose. The capacitor spat out a fountain of sparks and the giant looked at it curiously before tossing it aside and pushing past Vernon raised his fist again. As Vernon fell heavily to the floor the fist slammed into the sleeping cubicle door. The boy heard the thud and the monitor went blank as his security program activated. It was shortly followed by the sound of the door opening and the sizzle and smell of frying electronics.

He twisted his head around so he could peer past his feet as the privacy curtain was pushed aside. A great mass of black hair and two small eyes were peering past the boxes and his feet at him

"Harry? What ya doin' stuck back inside there? There's no need to hide."

The giant started pulling out boxes and tossing them to the side where they landed with the crinkle of breaking glass. The boy didn't know if he should scream or laugh. The giant didn't seem unfriendly and was casually destroying the majority of the Dursleys antique glass collection. Guess he wouldn't have to clean all those again.

The giant had worked his way up to the boxes they were below his feet now so he pulled his feet up beside his chest. There was barely room to wiggle at his end of the cubicle.

"Yeah good idea. Squeeze up a little and I'll clear some more room so you can come out. It's been too long Harry."

The boy realized that there was no where to go now and slowly lowered himself off the remaining boxes. It was amazing how big the sleeping cubicle was without the layers of boxes. He could walk out if he crouched. But he wasn't sure he should.

"Come out Harry."

"My name's not Harry Sir."

The giant's voice reflected the confusion visible on his features as he peered into the cubicle, "Not Harry? Sure it is. What you think it is?"

"I don't have a name. I was never named by my parents."

"What rubbish. Your name is Harry James Potter."

Vernon's voice came from somewhere out of sight. It sounded like he had managed to get back to his feet. "Don't you dare tell him that. You get out of my home you freak. Your kind is not welcome here."

The giant turned away from the cubicle, "Shut up you great lump. I ought to feed you to my thestrals you useless muggle. You were supposed to keep Harry here safe not feed him lies."

The boy crawled out of the cubicle and saw the giant now standing up just short of the ten foot high roof. Vernon was also just short of the roof but he had four feet beneath his feet as he was hanging with the giant holding the front of his jacket with one hand. The boy had heard that the gene enhanced soldiers were tough but holding a man of Vernon's weight with one hand without powered armor still shouldn't have been possible.

The boy looked up at the giant, "Are you sure my name is Harry Sir?"

The giant turned back to look down, "Stop calling me Sir Harry. My name is Hagrid and I'm sure. You are the spitting image of James, though a right lot smaller and thinner. What this 'ere great lump been feeding you? Course your father's eyes were blue. You got your mum's green eyes. That Lily. Brilliant she was and the greenest eyes. Just like yours."

Harry sat heavily down on the lip of the sleeping cubicle and took all this in. He had when he was younger tried to find out if he had a real name. It was that search that had first led him into the free domain. He had learnt lots of things about the Dursleys but never his true name. He had a vague recollection of Petunia Dursley having a sister called Lily who married a James Potter. But that didn't make sense. He couldn't be related to the Dursleys could he?

"But that would mean I was related to the Dursleys wouldn't it?"

Vernon tried to say something but Hagrid just shook him a little and that shut him up quickly.

"Sorry to say Harry but yes you are. If I had known they were going to starve their own nephew and not tell him the truth about your family I would never have brought you here."

There was a scream to Harry's right and he turned to see Petunia and Dursley had come out of the safe room. Obviously they had got sick of waiting for the all clear.

Hagrid turned and looked down at Harry, "That'd be ya aunty and cousin then. How about we all sit down for a cuppa then whilst we sort out the paperwork."

He took two giant strides to bring himself near the now cowering Petunia and Dudley and plonked Vernon down between them, "Well come on then. Put the kettle on there you wouldn't want to be impolite to ya guest would ya?"

Petunia scampered back into the kitchen followed closely by Hagrid who herded Dudley and Vernon ahead of him.

A bemused Harry followed behind.

Hagrid pulled out a kitchen chair for him and ushered Harry into it. Harry tentatively sat not looking at Vernon nor Petunia. He wasn't normally allowed to sit whilst he ate and he had never had tea. It was a strange feeling.

A trembling Petunia punched the buttons for five cups of tea as Hagrid pulled out a squashed looking package out of the many pockets in his trenchcoat. It turned out to be a lopsided birthday cake with Happy Birthday Harry written across the top.

"There ya go. Happy Birthday Harry. Would have got here earlier but had a bit of trouble finding the address."

Harry looked at the slice of cake Hagrid had pushed in front of him, "It's my Birthday?"

A furious Hagrid glared at Vernon and Petunia causing Petunia to drop two of the cups of tea to the floor, "Great Galloping Griffons, what kind of guardians are you? No wonder all our mails here got rejected, thought it was an accident we did. Seems not."

Hagrid shook his head in disbelief, "Merlin Harry, really had no idea. So much I guess you don't know and I'm hardly the right person to tell you. I was just here to pick you up and take you shopping for your school supplies."

Harry blinked. It just got weirder and weirder. "School? But there are no more schools, just universities and I can't got to them I'm too young and they cost lots."

Hagrid laughed, "No more muggle schools that's right but you wouldn't be going to one of those anyhow. I'm taking about a school for wizards. Things you can't learn from any little chip in ya head or fancy helmet. No sir."

Vernon finally had got his breath back and was ready to start back up again, "I won't have it. That's dangerous subversive stuff that freak stuff that is. I won't have it. We took him in as we had to but that's as far as we go. Get out and don't come back."

Hagrid stood nudging the table forward which knocked Petunia to the floor, "You agreed to look after him and keep him hidden. You were well paid and protected. I'll be reporting this to Dumbledore never you mind and I'm guessing he won't be any too pleased either. Hey out of that ya pig."

There was a flash as Hagrid waved a rolled up paper magazine at Dudley who had started shoveling large pieces of the cake into his mouth. Dudley squealed and clutched his behind as an oversized pigs tail burst free from his pants. Moments later he squealed again as a number of sparks burst from his neural computer.

Hagrid grimaced at Harry, "Oops... guess it wasn't hardened."

Harry shook his head. Dudley had to have the latest and greatest, fastest and flashiest. Which given the way Dudley treated all his possessions usually meant they it didn't last long anyhow. Harry had the same computer for the past six years, it provided little more than a basic neural interface and some utility programs and was already a decade out of date when it was installed. Harry had long since rewritten most of the inbuilt firmware and utilities and interface code and managed to eek out half decent performance. It helped that it was an heavy industry model and had some rather impressive error correcting, filtering and protection hardware modules installed. Vernon would have preferred something cheaper but they all tended to fail the installation test.

Dudley didn't seem too hurt by his neural computer being destroyed, Harry personally doubted the fat slob used it for much more than storing porn. The tail on the other hand seemed to be having a rather amusing reaction as the three Dursleys were all panicking about that. At least they had seemingly forgotten all about Harry and Hagrid's presence.

Harry and Hagrid continued to talk for another hour mostly about Harry's family and what they had been like. He also briefly recounted the story of their death. When Harry yawned Hagrid smiled and stated, "Time you got some sleep Harry. Big day tomorrow. I'll finish clearing out your cubicle for you."

Hagrid did as he promised, tossing out the rest of the boxes. He extracted the buried mattress and gave it a good shake before pushing it back in. A few silk sheets from Petunia's closet and a spare pillow and Harry barely recognised the place he had slept for the past decade.

The access panel was quite dead and the door rather dented so Hagrid just swung it partially shut behind Harry and smiled, "Pleasant dreams Harry. I'll just sleep here in the hall so you don't have to worry about locking up."

As Harry stretched out to enjoy the luxury of a full sized bed he heard strange scratching from the hall. A quick glance showed Hagrid writing on a piece of old looking paper with a massive feather. Harry lay back down and tried to make sense of everything he had learnt today but weeks of limited sleep had taken their toll and he was asleep seconds later.

* * *

_**Author Notes**: I rather like the setting still however my original plot idea… now not so much. The base setting was planned to be the Harry Potter magical world just set in the far future. For the most part the wizarding characters being as they were in the book. The magical word still hidden and also almost identical to that in the book. The muggle word however is much more advanced, netrunning, cybernetics, genetic manipulation and space travel (for the rich) all common. A large percentage of the muggle population jack-in for work and entertainment (something only the rarest of wizards are able to do, Harry being an exception). Huge contrast between magic and technology but obliviations would be rarely needed as most muggles would just dismiss anything too unusual as the result of too many stims, drugs or over working. Any evidence on the net could easily be dismissed as hoaxes and spam._


	9. Changes in the Chamber

_**Summary**__: Harry chats with the Sorting hat after defeating the memory of Tom Riddle and the Basilisk and is put on the path of looking out for himself and his friends. Harry and Ginny train so they won't be so helpless next time. Hermione and Neville soon follow in their footsteps. Allies include Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor. Opponents include Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort and the Ministry. Expect sword fighting and more magical weapons and armor._

* * *

**Changes in the Chamber**

* * *

Harry stared at the diary in his hands. Ink continued to drip from the ragged hole through the middle of it. His head hurt. His body hurt, though thankfully nothing like it had when the basilisk.

Ginny groaned and started to stir. Harry quickly gathered his wand, the sword and the sorting hat and stumbled over to her. As she took in Harry's bloodied appearance and the sight of the dead basilisk behind him she started to cry.

Harry froze, this was not something he had much experience in how to handle. He tried to pick how his friends would handle it, Ron would probably be as useless as him but Hermione. She would comfort and probably hug her. So as Ginny started to speak Harry dropped to his knees and discarding all that he carried he wrapped Ginny up in his arms.

"Harry — oh, Harry — I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Harry — but I — I s-swear I d-didn't mean to — R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over — and — how did you kill that — that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary —"

Harry held her tighter, "He's gone. I destroyed the diary and the Basilisk as well. You are safe from him now. Do you want to try and get out of here now?"

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny didn't seem to want to move so Harry shifted into a less painful position and continued to hold her. She rested her head on his chest as she sobbed, "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and — w- what'll Mum and Dad say?"

Harry shook his head, "It wasn't your fault. They can't do that." He paused suddenly unsure of his own pronouncement, "Can they?"

Ginny sobs got louder but Harry was busy grabbing the sorting hat, "Don't worry Ginny. I won't let them expel you without a fight. No one else knows what happened. I'm sure Fawkes knows you weren't responsible. I'm going to talk to the sorting hat now. You just rest a moment whilst I sort this out."

He shifted again so his back was against a pillar and Ginny was half curled up in his lap head still pressing into his chest. She continued to sob but quieter now her arms now wrapped around him.

Harry put the hat on, it was still too big but at least it didn't cover his eyes if he didn't pull it too hard.

"Still alive Potter. Good to see. Concerned about Ginny are you?"

Harry nodded then realized that he probably should speak, "Yes, sir. I don't want her to be expelled. You won't tell what happened down here will you?"

The sorting hat's soft voice was amused, "Think you can tell a founders artifact what to do eh?"

Harry's eyebrows shot up in shock, "No. No, I didn't mean it like that."

"Ha, don't you worry about it Harry. I knew what you meant. Just testing you. Your secrets are your own. I do however stand by what I said in first year, you would have done well on Slytherin!"

Harry shuddered, "I don't want to be anything like Malfoy. "

The hat snorted, "Malfoy? Ha. He's the furthest from the Slytherin ideal in your year, even Goyle and Crabbe have three times as many secrets and cunning than he does. No Slytherin wished to promote cunning, ambition and intelligence."

Harry noted that Ginny had stopped sobbing, a quick check showed that she had fallen asleep. Harry was pleased that he had found a reasonably comfortable position first. He wondered if he could have a proper chat with the hat.

The sorting hat seemed to guess or hear his thoughts, "We can chat for awhile. In fact I'd like that. I rarely get a chance to chat outside the sorting. Albus no longer appreciates my advice."

That caught Harry's attention, "Why is that?"

The sorting hat seemed to frown, "Though I would like to tell you more that would be telling another's secrets and generally I can't do that."

"Generally?"

"Most everything had exceptions when dealing with Magic. Sadly even another rule prevent me telling you of those exceptions. What I can tell you is that in Slytherin on not there is no reason you can't act a bit more intelligently."

Harry blinked. Had the hat just reprimanded him?

"Indeed Potter. You are letting yourself be led by fools. There are people that you need you help and you waste time worrying about the least of them. Even Godric would do his best to be prepared before he rushed in. Look at the sword."

Harry grabbed the sword with his one free hand and brought it close. There just past the ruby encrusted hilt, engraved on the base of the blade was a name. Godric Gryffindor. He blinked, the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry noted that the copy of it in the common room was only a pale imitation of the real thing. A founder's heirloom it was spoken of, and a lost one at that.

He swung it gently through the air and felt it almost fight him and try to move differently.

The sorting hat snorted, "If you are going to swing a sword you going to learn how to do it properly Potter."

"How to I learn?"

"A good question but one that the sword is better able to answer than I?"

Harry stared at the sword, "It can talk?"

The sorting hat snorted again prompting Harry to wonder how a hat without a nose could possibly snort, "Nope."

Harry began to question this when the hat interrupted, "No more can I tell you regarding that, work it out yourself. Ask something else."

Harry nodded and gently put the sword down. He would need to think about that more later but he knew he shouldn't waste this opportunity to learn more from the hat. Glancing around he spotted the broken fang of the basilisk where it lay next to the pool of black ink.

"Am I fully healed?"

"You refer to the basilisk's poison and I can tell you no, but you never will be. However you shouldn't let that concern you. There is more potential for advantage than disadvantage in what it has left in you if you can learn to harness it."

Harry prodded at the scar left by the fang, it was rough and angry looking but it didn't hurt. "How do I do that?"

"In what subject do you study such things Potter?"

"Potions? But I'm no good at that subject."

The sorting hat spoke briskly, "You could be."

"But Snape hates me how am I meant to learn anything from him?"

"How indeed?" the hat seemed amused.

Harry thought about that for a moment, "Learn elsewhere?"

"I do believe it's time you had a word to Ginny. We should talk again sometime." the sorting hat's words were pleasant but final.

"Thank you sir."

"You are welcome Harry."

Harry put the hat down and gently gave Ginny a small shake. She groggily opened her eyes then once again latched her arms around Harry. Harry realised that he really didn't mind being held by her anymore. It felt a little uncomfortable at first but now it felt like even just being there for her to hold was helping her.

He lifted her up and sat her fully on his lap, somewhat surprised by just how light she was. Understanding she twisted a bit so that whilst still in his arms there was a small gap between them so that they could look at each other.

"Okay Ginny we need to work out what we are going to tell them. Where did you get this diary?"

Ginny blinked tears from her eyes as she thought back, "I found it inside my the transfiguration book my mum got me. I thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it."

Harry considered this, "Inside your book. Malfoy. He was looking at that book in Flourish and Blotts. He must have put it inside there. Wonder if there is anyway to prove it." Harry considered it for a moment then shook his head, "I bet if there was he wouldn't have attempted it there."

Ginny, "What do we do?"

Harry smiled down at Ginny, "We tell only the truth that we need to. We know that it forced you to act so we start with that. We know who was controlling you so we use that as well."

"Riddle?"

Harry shook his head, "No we say Voldemort."

Ginny started and almost slipped off his legs, "What? But he said his name was Tom Riddle. I'm not good at lying?"

Harry shook his head, "You don't have to lie Ginny. Tom Riddle is Voldemort or was. He changed his name or at least told people only the new name. Tom Riddle won't get people's attention but Voldemort will."

"How do you know that?"

Harry smiled, "He told me. He wasted a lot of time taunting me when he probably could have killed me. We have to learn how to make sure we don't fall into that trap?"

Ginny looked at his curiously, "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to start training hard and in secret. This is the second time in two years that I have faced Voldemort in one form or another. I need to be ready and no one here is preparing me. Defence against the Dark Arts has to be the most important subject for me and yet the headmaster has employed the absolutely worst choices I could imagine. Now I know I also need to do well at potions and look who we have there. It's as if…" Harry's voice trailed off.

Ginny continued for him, "as if he doesn't want us to learn those subjects well."

Harry nodded, "But why? I thought he was on our side?"

Ginny frowned, "I think we are meant to be on his side."

"That doesn't make it sound so good does it. Is there anyone on our side?"

Ginny twisted so she was looking at the basilisk then pushed herself backwards so her back was resting on Harry's chest again. She grabbed his arms and held them around her, "I wouldn't say this to my parents. They are real big Dumbledore supporters. Ron too, he's always going on about how wonderful Dumbledore is at home, also he can't keep a secret to save his life."

Harry stared at the basilisk as well, "He doesn't go on about Dumbledore what I'm around."

"Strange, it's his favourite topic after you. All he could talk about at the beginning of Summer was you and Dumbledore. Oh, and Hermione. I hope she's okay."

"They said that the Mandrakes would be ready soon. She won't be happy she missed so many classes but she gets on well with most of the teachers." He paused thinking about it, "If Dumbledore really is trying to prevent us learning properly do you think Hermione would be on our side or his?"

Ginny sighed, "I don't know. We had some good conversations at the start of the year before the Diary started to take over. She really does love her learning so if you put it like that she'd probably side with learning. Not sure if I'd tell her we think Dumbledore is doing it on purpose."

Harry nodded, "That makes sense. So my plan is to teach myself sword fighting and find out what is so special about this sword. Then study Defence and Potions properly. Maybe I'll ask Hermione to help me with the Defence and Potions in secret."

Ginny nodded, "Can I learn with you?"

Harry smiled, "Of course. You want to learn sword fighting as well?"

She nodded, "And how to protect my mind as well. I tried to fight back sometimes and Riddle just shut me down and laughed at me for being so weak willed."

"Right, we have a plan. So let's go face the music. A compulsion charm on the book that was snuck into your books whilst at Flourish and Blott's. The diary that when opened allowed the spirit of Voldemort access to the castle. The spirit controlled the basilisk and when you tried to break free of the compulsion charm he took you into the Chamber of secrets. My part I can tell pretty much as it happened and let it be known that Voldemort admitted his name was Tom Riddle."

Ginny smiled, "Then we start training."


	10. Ghostly Help

**Ghostly Help**

* * *

BOOM.

The door to the hut vibrated from the knock and Dudley jerked awake with a yelp.

"Where's the cannon?" he asked stupidly.

"What the?" came Vernon's voice from the other room.

There was a screech from the other room and muttered half apology from Vernon.

Harry just sat there frozen. He hadn't expected for his birthday. Certainly not something slamming into the door of the tiny hut he had been dragged to. All because of some strange letters addressed to him and that refused to stop.

There was a shout from outside but it was rendered unintelligible by the noise of the storm. It was shortly followed by a louder BOOM and the door broke free of its ancient hinges and slammed into the floor with an almighty crash.

In the doorway was the shadow of a huge man outlined against flashes of lightning behind him. Way too big for any normal man. The figure was stooped so that his head was below the mantle. Harry gasped and heard a croak from his fat cousin. The coach creaked as the fat lump obviously tried to scoot a little further away from the doorway. Harry didn't move. It was impressive but for some reason it didn't seem unfriendly. He did shift a little, the hard rock and earth floor certainly wasn't comfortable.

As the figure started navigating his large body through the too small doorway there was a crash from behind Harry as Vernon came barrelling into the room tripping over and further destroying one of the broken chairs. Vernon fell with a thud and curse and there was a very loud crack even louder than the giants smashing of the door.

Harry felt a slight tap his chest and then a burning sensation. He gasped lightly but quickly silenced it. His uncle hated to hear him moaning. He absentmindedly brushed his hand across his chest but didn't encounter anything. He imagined that whatever hit him must have bounced off and returned his attention to the giant.

The giant had finally made it all the way through the door and now with easy picked up the heavy iron bound wooden door and and jammed it back in the doorway. Once the sight and sound of the storm blocked out the main spoke in a pleasant manner, "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"

No one answered. Vernon was still struggling to his feet scattering the remains of the broken chair about. Harry noted that he was carrying a rifle in his which explained the wrapped package he had been carrying the previous day.

Dudley was still sitting frozen in fear and it was to him that the giant address as he approached the couch. "Budge up, yeh great lump."

There was a squark from Dudley who rapidly fled to behind Vernon. Harry resisted the urge to smile. Not smiling around the Dursleys was another important lesson he had beaten into him. Harry did find it a tad strange that Vernon's gaze was on him rather than the giant. Did his uncle think this involved him somehow?

He turned his gaze back to the giant and noted that the burning sensation was getting worse. It was even worse than when he had spilt hot oil over his wrist when cooking chips a year ago. He had to struggle to keep from moaning. But Vernon was looking right at him and he didn't want to get into more trouble that he already was. Vernon might blame him for the giant's appearance, he always got the blame for unusual things. Harry certainly didn't want to get kicked out, the storm while muffled could still be heard. Vernon had sent him out before during a storm to demonstrate what 'providing a roof over your head' meant.

"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.

Harry returned his attention to the big man and found he was being smiling at. That was nice. He tried to reply but when he opened his mouth something warm and sticky was all that came out.

"Hey, what happen' there Harry. You not well?" said the big man as the smile faded away.

Harry was sad. Not many people smiled at him, he would have liked to see more of that smile but it was getting hard to see. He coughed into his hands and he glanced down to see his hands covered with red sticky blood. Harry had seen plenty of blood before. All his own. He had been kicked and beaten, pushed over and stood on, by Dudley and his friends many times. This blood was very thick and a mixture of bright flowing blood and strands of dark sticky blood. He coughed more out.

He could hear movement and rapid shouting but it was becoming hard to focus. The burning had continued to get worse and seemed to have spread across and around his whole torso. It was becoming hard to breath and even when he tried to cough all he was able to do was splutter and spit blood into his already drenched hands. His aunt was going to be so upset that he was making a mess of his clothing.

As the room started going dark he thought he saw Vernon flying through the air. It was a strange sight and must have been his imagination. Surely not even the giant was big enough to have picked up Vernon and chucked him through the window.

His last thought was he wished he could have seen the giant smile more. That was the one thing he might miss.

..

Hagrid took the small boat towards the shore. His small black eyes were filled with tears. Not for fifty years had he so missed the ability to cast magic properly. He had been good at healing spells at school. Really the only thing he had been good at actually apart from Herbology and Creatures. He had only been passable at Charms and Defense, barely able to scrape through Transfiguration and totally pants at Astronomy, History and Potions.

If only that blasted Riddle hadn't put the blame on him for Myrtle's death he could have had a wand. He wasn't sure it would have been enough to save Harry but if even there had been a slight chance it would have been worth it.

He looked down at the small wrapped bundle at his feet and sobbed loudly. He rowed slowly and steadily for the shore. He had planned on trying his hand at a small charm he thought might have helped the boat move faster but it seemed disrespectful now. Better to row the tiny body to shore gently and slowly.

He watched with anger as the drenched figure of Vernon struggled back to shore and entered the hut through the gaping doorway. The door was gone, he had kicked it well out into the sea when he left. There would be no rescuing it. They would have to stay the night in that cold hut with no door and no boat. Hagrid felt a tiny amount of satisfaction in that but it was a hollow victory. Harry was dead. Dursley deserved much worse. An accident it may have been but one of their own making.

Hagrid's thoughts went back to the last time he had seen Harry. When he was just a baby and he was dropping him off at the Dursley's. Why had Dumbledore allowed Harry to be treated that way? Hagrid could have done a better job of raising Harry than those awful muggles. Even McGonagall had offered to take him. No Dumbledore had said, it would be safer for him to be with them. Dumbledore was wrong. So wrong. Harry hadn't been safe and now he was dead just like his parents.

Hagrid has so been looking forward to this year, this would have been the year that Harry would have started Hogwarts. He paused in his rowing and pulled out the letter he had brought with him. He opened it, ignoring the rain that dripped on the parchment and started to read aloud. Sobbing between words.

As he read the invitation to the school he felt a wave of emotion flood over him. But this emotion wasn't his own. It was happiness. Happiness that someone wanted him and that there was a place for him. It made no sense. Hagrid knew that they weren't his emotions. He looked down at the wrapped bundle and spoke.

"Were that you Harry?"

Hagrid felt a jolt of joy in reply. It was Harry, somehow, the boy hadn't gone on fully yet.

"I'm so sorry Harry. This were not the way it…"

Hagrid felt the emotion start to fade and quickly changed track. He had dealt with many creatures that responded to your own emotions and this seemed like a very similar situation.

"Yeh would 'ave loved it Harry. Hogwarts is a wonderful place. A massive castle you first see from the boats. We take all the first years across the lake 'cause it looks so impressive glittering from a thousand torches an' lamps against the night sky."

A small smile creased Hagrid's face as he felt the joyful emotion return. Hagrid was now sure that it was Harry's presence that he was feeling.

"Yehu would have had friends. Yer parents friends had children who are starting school this year too. Imagine running around, learning, playin' quidditch with boys and girls your own age."

A feeling of wonder replaced the joy.

"Yeah, yer family had lots of friends. Yer mum an' dad did good things they did. Yer father was an Auror. Made sure everyone obeyed the law he did. Yer mum was studying charms. Think she was plannin' to do 'er mastery with Professor Flitwick. He would have been one of yer teachers. Great little man 'e is. Used ter be a dueling champion."

Hagrid continue to talk as he put the letter away and returned to rowing the boat back to shore.

..

It had been a busy week. Dumbledore had resigned from the ICW under a storm of protest at his inattention to Harry's plight, some still wanted blood but most were satisfied with this one act of repentance so Dumbledore would use words to work on those being difficult. The Dursleys had been arrested by the muggle authorities. Many still clamoured for them to be sent to Azkaban even though such would be a near instant death sentence for those muggles. A riot outside a publishing house had ended with twelve people being admitted to St. Mungos and seven arrests. The building itself was now well beyond magical repair and would have to be rebuilt. Hundreds of people were demanding their money back for the fictional books that had concealed the truth of their saviours life. More arrests were imminent.

Hundreds attended the funeral service. Thousands lined up outside. Thousands more sent flowers, cards and small gifts. Albus had to allocate another storage room to Harry's gifts and mail.

To Albus Dumbledore is was one of the saddest days of his life. It brought back memories or his sister's passing and he truly wouldn't have been surprised if someone, maybe Hagrid, punched him in the face during the funeral. Strangely enough, the few times Albus had seen Hagrid the giant hadn't seemed as upset as he would have expected. Usually the half-giant would have sat front and centre, crying his little eyes, not giving a thought to what others might think. It was usually reassuring consistent. But for the service Hagrid had hovered at the edge of the crowd muttering to himself. His expression's, normally easily readable, seeming to change every few seconds as if he was reliving a storm of memories. It was a mystery but sadly one which Albus didn't have the time to dwell on.

His biggest task at the moment was making sure that the Potter estate was put to good use. Nearly as loud as the crowd decrying the death of their hero was the crowd clamouring to take advantage of the end of the line. Even the goblins were getting involved citing that the Potter family magic hadn't fully faded and they refused to open the vaults until the magic faded. That this was usually an indication that there might still be a heir alive made no sense at all. Albus believed that there was some other factor at work here, possibly something to do with the Prophecy needing to be fulfilled. Though how that could happen now he had no idea.

It seemed likely that the Minister was going to call for an in-depth investigation of everything related to the Potters to sort this out. As Supreme Mugwump, Albus knew he was going to have to be involved in everything from rereading the wills, the sealing of which he was already taking flak for, to questioning Sirius Black. Albus knew that was going to drag out the investigation even longed as Sirius would have to be removed from the presence of the dementors for months before he was capable of surviving a dose of Veritaserum.

Albus blinked and noted that it was another pureblood supremacist that was standing to say a few words. This one was a fool. Totally the opposite of Malfoy who had already said his few words earlier and made sure to keep it short, simple and emotional. Nothing to take offence at. This idiot, Parkinson, was busy proving to even those with half a brain that he was an uncaring fool. He had just managed to lose the respect of even those who agreed with his principles. Albus admired a good politician who knew how to play the game, Parkinson certainly didn't make the ground. Albus spared Lucius a look. The senior Malfoy's face was expressionless. Still Albus knew the man must be seething, maybe this would open the window for the Greengrass family to add a moderating influence to the Malfoy's. He would have to say a few words in the right ears before Parkinson could fix the damage he had just caused.

Parkinson sat back down. The room was deathly quiet. No one wanted to follow that and all the important speakers had already said their words. Albus sighed as he moved back towards the front to cast the final spells to send poor little Harry on his final journey. As he charmed the coffin to float towards the already dug grave he spotted Hagrid. Yet again the half-giant was standing to the side and now seemed to be openly talking. But there was no one near him.

..

Hermione looked around the platform her face showing her obvious amazement at everything. There was a small boy feeding snacks to a beautiful owl that was sitting on shoulder. An older girl had just cast a spell to make her trunk float. Another boy conjured a bouquet of flowers for a laughing girl. Two sibling pushing each other over some imagined slight.

She smiled. Maybe this would be the school which accepted her. Maybe she could find a real friend, not just someone that wanted her help with their homework. With a small hopeful smile she dragged her trunk towards the train. It was heavy and hard to move. Books weighed a lot and she had had to make sure there were enough so she would have books to read every night.

A long haired blond boy led a couple of others past her, pushing her aside without slowing. Their trunks seemed to almost float as they carried them. She stumbled a little and thought she heard the blond boy mutter something about mud. She looked at her clothes. Her neat little dress was a golden brown. She frowned. It wasn't really mud coloured at all. Shrugging she continued to struggle with her trunk until all of a sudden it changed. One moment it felt like it was full of bricks and the next second it felt like a giant box shaped balloon. For a moment she was concerned that the bottom had fallen out before she realized what had happened.

Magic!

She had read about weight reducing charms. It was obvious that someone had cast one on her trunk. She looked around hoping to see who her benefactor was but no one seemed to be looking her way or paying her any attention. She smiled, people here were so helpful that they would cast a such a spell and not even expect thanks or notice.

Her trunk behaving rather similar to that of the blond boy and his two friends she half lifted half steered it into the train and along the corridor till she found an empty carriage. She did that without thinking. The habit of sitting alone was going to be a hard one to break.

She tried to lift the trunk up to the luggage rack but even with the weight reducing charm it was proving difficult. She was just too short. On her third try once again magic came to her help and it was as if an invisible hand pushed it that last bit and then turned it so it was sitting perfectly on the rack.

She smiled and turned around quickly hoping to catch whoever it was that time. But there was no one there. No one even near the carriage door. That was strange. Who was helping her then? Did the train have magical invisible helpers? She opened her book bag and found her copy of Hogwarts a History and started looking through it. She was positive that there was nothing mentioned within but she wasn't going to take the chance that she had forgotten one little fact.

She was still flipping through the pages when a gentle knock on the side of the carriage alerted her that someone was looking at her. She looked up into the blue eyes of a chubby boy with short blond hair.

"Eh… hello. Do you mind if I sit here?" He indicated the empty bench.

Hermione beamed. Maybe this would be her first friend. "Of course. My name is Hermione Granger. I'm a first year. Are you too? It's all so exciting isn't it? Do you know if the train has invisible helpers? My trunk seemed to move all by itself and there was no one around. I wanted to get a magical trunk that was lighter but they were all so expensive and I also wanted to see if I could learn to cast the spell myself. Not that I have yet."

The boy's eye went wide and his mouth opened a little but it wasn't until he had a chance to shake himself that he replied, "Eh… Neville Longbottom. Pleased to meet you. There are house elves to take the luggage off at the Hogsmeade end. My gran told me about that but she said that they wouldn't help us load up. Told me I had to look after myself."

At his last words he jerked as he remembered he needed to bring his trunk in. Reaching behind him he dragged it into the carriage and with a great effort lifted it and managed to get the corner onto the rail before it started tipping. Hermione quickly sprung to her feet and just managed to catch it before it slid off. Together it took them two attempts to get it up and somewhat positioned properly. Hermione wondered if her invisible helper were helping someone else now.

Hermione soon discovered that Neville's parents were wizards but that they couldn't look after him anymore so he lived with his gran who was a witch. It didn't sound like his parents were dead but he was rather uncomfortable speaking about it so Hermione switched subjects. They talked about magic and Neville seemed to be quite knowledgeable about magical plants but not a whole lot else. Hermione was rather surprised that he hadn't even read up on all the potions that he could be making with the plants he grew.

Neville went a little quiet after that and soon the conversation died off. Hermione went back to reading her book.

They train departed and they continued to read in silence until Neville suddenly gasped and started frantically checking his pockets.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Neville was looking under the seat and his voice was a little muffled, "I can't find Trevor."

"Trevor?"

He turned to look under the other seat, "My Toad. He was in my pocket when I sat down. Oh I hope he hasn't jumped out the window."

Hermione glanced at the closed window, "I don't think so, it's closed. Why do you carry your Toad in your pocket?" That seemed a rather strange place to carry an amphibian.

Neville didn't seem to hear her and was now peering each way down the corridor.

Hermione realised that a friend should help so jumped up and joined him in the corridor, "I'll help you look. We'll split up. You go that way and ask everyone you see if they have seen your Toad and I'll go this way." She gave him a gentle push to get him moving and headed the other way.

The first carriage she stuck her head in was full of much older boys. They paused their conversation about some sort of sport and looked at her questioningly. A stocky boy already wearing his hogwarts uniform asked with a small smile, "Yes little Miss?"

Hermione hadn't been called a little Miss before and spluttered a moment before she caught herself, "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost his."

A number of the boys chuckled and the boys as one shook their head. The stocky boy glanced around with a grin, "'fraid not. Good luck on your toad hunt."

Hermione moved back and was about to close the door when a wave of one of the boy's wands closed it first. She wasn't sure to be insulted by that. It was interesting magic, but was it really that necessary when she was about to close it herself.

She passed the toilets and was about to cross the bridge to the next carriage when she felt a little push on her shoulders. She stumbled back and only barely managed to stop herself falling over. She spun around wondering if those older boys had cast another spell but the door was still closed and the curtain drawn. There were a few people ahead of her but they weren't looking her way. Behind her there was only Neville standing in the open doorway of a carriage at the other end of the corridor.

She tried to take a cautious step towards the bridge and felt another little shove. It was much gentler this time but still strong enough to stop her movement forward. As she frowned she heard a creak from the toilet door near her.

Guessing that her tormentor was inside the toilet she sighed and prepared herself for the worst. There was no point denying it, she would have to face the bully and do her best not to get upset at the insults. She opened the door and was greatly surprised to see it empty. She pulled at the door handle to close it and discovered that it wouldn't budge. She moved a little into the toilet, but not far enough so that anyone could close it and lock her in, she had been locked in enough toilets not to want to repeat that on her first day at a new school.

Hermione gave the handle a stronger tug but it still didn't move. Frowning she had just decided to give it up as a lost cause when a faint sound alerted her to something behind the sink. Cautiously she stepped a little further inside hoping that this wasn't some sort of elaborate trap. She was rather surprised to see a large toad sitting in a small puddle of water from the sink.

A minute later a very grateful Neville had been reunited with his toad. Hermione hadn't wanted to touch the thing and Neville hadn't been keen to go into the girl's toilet so Hermione had ended up ushering the Trevor out of the toilet with her book so Neville could pick him up.

Neville was a little more talkative after Hermione's rescue of his toad and ended up telling her as many stories as he could remember about seeing magic. Hermione was interested but often rather frustrated that Neville seemed to answer most of her questions with, "I don't know why", "I didn't ask", or "Gran told me I'd learn about it at Hogwarts."

Neither Hermione nor Neville bought anything from the food cart and they soon both went back to reading. Hermione had convinced Neville that he should study a little ahead in case the teachers expected it. Neville hadn't looked at his books since his gran has told him that he would be in such trouble if he even thought about casting any spells before school.

Hermione was trying to explain a few terms in his Charms textbook when the long haired blond boy opened the carriage door and flung it open

"Ohh… squib and mudblood. No one interesting on the train at all. I don't…" His drawl was suddenly cut off when the door slammed closed on him. There was a cry of pain from the other side of the door.

Hermione and Neville looked at each other in shock.

The door was kicked open to reveal the boy standing there looking furious one hand covering his nose. A little red on his fingers suggested it was bleeding. He glanced at both of their hands and frowned. His voice was little muffled and Hermione wondered if he had broken his nose. If so he was doing a good job of ignoring the pain. "How did you do that? No mud…" The door slammed closed on him again eliciting an even louder cry as it smashed his foot.

Neville looked at Hermione, "Should we try and help?"

Hermione shrugged looking a little confused, "I'm not sure what we can do."

The door opened again. This time it was another of the boys who was tentatively pushing it open. The blond boy was standing back a few steps. One hand covering his bloodied nose whilst the other held his wand. "You will tell me how you did that or I will curse you both. No squib or… ahhhh."

The last Hermione and Neville saw was the boy's wand flying backwards and out the open window before the door slammed closed again.

Neville looked a little worried, "Do you think we will get in trouble. I think that was Draco Malfoy. His father's on the school board with my gran."

Hermione shook her head, "But we didn't do anything. Why would we get in trouble?"

Neville started telling a few stories about the kind of things Lucius Malfoy was said to have gotten away with when the door was opened and a tall black haired boy looked in. "Humm.. you both first years?"

Hermione and Neville both nodded.

"You been casting wandless magic?"

Hermione and Neville shook their heads.

The boy lifted his wand and said, "Homenum Revelio." He shrugged when nothing happened, "Malfoy reported that the door kept slamming closed on him when he was trying to talk to you two. Then someone silently banished his wand off the train. What did you two do?"

Hermione spoke up, "He wasn't speaking to us. He was insulting us and the door did slam closed three times but we didn't touch it. We were reading when he came by and sitting ust where we are. I saw his wand fly away but I don't know how to cast that spell even with my wand."

Neville nodded, "Yeah. He was calling us names and then it closed on him. But we didn't do it."

The boy nodded, "I understand but I still need to check. Show me your wands."

It took a few minutes for Hermione to retrieve her from it's case at the bottom of her book bag. It took even longer and the boys help to retrieve Neville's from his trunk.

"Prior Incantato" The boys words caused a few faint sparks and a few faint images to emit from Hermione's wand. He smiled as he handed it back to her, "Nice wand, almost new, just a few simple charms, make sure you take care of it."

She smiled back at him pleased.

He took hold of Neville's wand and gave it a strange look before peering at Neville, "A second hand wand?"

Neville mumbled, "It was my dad's."

"Prior Incantato" This time the boy's words caused a number of faint flashes of light that caused the boy's eyebrows to shoot up, "Reducto, Confringo, Expelliarmus and a few others I don't recognise but all cast a very long time ago."

He handed it back to Neville, "You haven't cast any spells with it yet. How do you know if it suits you?"

Neville looked at him blankly.

The book shook his head, "You shouldn't be using a wand that hasn't chosen you unless you are sure it's compatible with you. You can't tell that without casting spells. I know you might want to use your dad's wand but you need to test it first. I'll let McGonagall know to organise a testing for you and I better not hear that you have tried it without a teacher present, right?"

Neville nodded.

"Good, well I'm sure neither of you had anything to do with Malfoy's misfortune. Time to go talk to the usual suspects. Good luck with the sorting you two." The boy gave them a brief nod and left.

Hermione asked, "Who was that?"

Neville shrugged, "Not sure but probably a prefect that hasn't put his badge on yet."

"Oh…"

The rest of the journey went by rather peacefully after that. No one came by and no other unusual things happened.

* * *

**Author Notes**: Harry is not a normal ghost just as he wasn't a normal boy, think a friendly version of a Poltergeist. However he is not the main focus of this story. The tale follows Hermione and Neville and their quest to find friends, acceptance and finally success and recognition in the magical and muggle worlds. Hagrid's story will also be told and will occasionally intersect with Hermione's and Neville's. I have made no decisions on pairings if indeed they happen.


End file.
